Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission gets licence to import nuclear fuel for Rooppur NPP

The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), a project implementing agency and operator of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, has received class B, D, E licences for the nuclear fuel handling, storage and transportation.

The Сlass B licence authorises purchase, ownership, handling and storage of nuclear materials, Class D licence allows a Russian transport company to transport nuclear materials, while Class E provides for the possibility of nuclear materials import.

The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA) issued the document in an official event held on 13 July in Pabna, reads a press release issued bythe  Communications Division of Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division.  

Architect Yeafesh Osman, minister of Science and Technology, was the chief guest at the official ceremony to hand-over the licences, which was presided over by Engr Muzammel Haque, chairman, BAERA.

On behalf of the Russian side, the event was attended by Alexey Ferapontov, deputy head of the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor) and Andrey Petrov, first deputy director general for Nuclear Power of the Rosatom State Corporation – ASE JSC president.

Alexey Deriy, ASE JSC vice president - director for Rooppur NPP Construction Project spoke about the progress of the first nuclear power plant construction project in Bangladesh in 2023.

"The delivery of nuclear fuel to the nuclear power plant is a complex multi-level process that should meet all international safety standards. The next stage of this process is the acceptance inspection in Novosibirsk. The fuel will not be shipped and delivered to the Rooppur NPP until all necessary inspections and scheduled procedures have been completed," said Alexey Deriy.

However, Bangladesh is expecting to receive nuclear fuel for the first unit of its maiden nuclear power plant by next September.

"The nuclear fuel — uranium — will arrive in Bangladesh in September. We are expecting that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general and Russian president will virtually join our prime minister at the handover programme," said Science and Technology Minister Architect Yeafesh Osman at an event held last month.

"Implementation work of the Rooppur power plant has reached a point that we are very close to graduation [operation]," he told the media.

The Rooppur NPP equipped with two VVER-1200 reactors totaling to 2400 MW is being built at Ishwardi of Pabna, an Upazila 160 km from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, in accordance with the General Contract dated December 25, 2015.

As per the project plan, the first unit of the 2,400MW nuclear power plant is expected to commence commercial operation in the first quarter of 2024.

The $13 billion project is being implemented by the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission with the technical and financial support of Russia.