The Rooppur nuclear power plant has taken a major step forward with the installation of its first nuclear reactor pressure vessel.
Published : 10 Oct 2021, 03:32 PM
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the installation work via video conference from her official residence of the Ganabhaban on Sunday.
“We will join the world’s nuclear powers, but for peace,” the prime minister said.
“This will ensure power generation, which will reach the rural people and elevate their socio-economic condition.”
The Rooppur power plant project is being implemented by Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and is being constructed with technical and financial support from Russia.
Reactor pressure vessels are thick steel containers that hold nuclear fuel when the reactors operate. The vessels provide one of several barriers that keep radioactive material out of the environment. Power will be generated from uranium inside the vessel, which will produce electricity. It works as the lifeline of nuclear power plants.
The reactor pressure vessel reached Mongla port from Russia in October last year. It is being installed following the policy and standards of the International Atomic Energy Association.
The project will be completed soon once the reactor is installed, said a project official. At least 50 percent of the first unit will be done this year.
The government hopes to meet the deadline for completing the first unit of the $12.65 billion project and supply power to the national grid by 2023. The second unit will be open in the following year. The megaproject with two units is being constructed on 1,062 acres.
In 2017, Hasina inaugurated the construction of the main concrete structure for the nuclear furnace, with the construction beginning in July of the following year.
A total of 8,000 people, including 1,800 Russians and other foreign nationals, are working on the project.
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission signed a contract with Atomstroyexport JSC, an engineering company of Russia’s Rosatom on Dec 25, 2015, to implement the project.
A third-generation technology of a five-layered protection system is being used in constructing the power plant, according to the government. Bangladesh also signed a contract with Russia to remove the used nuclear fuel.