Bangladesh gets first uranium shipment from Russia for nuclear power plant | Nuclear Energy News | USAEMALL.com

Russia is financing 90 p.c of $12.65bn challenge to construct Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant in Rooppur.

Bangladesh has acquired the first Russian shipment of uranium gas for its first nuclear power plant, making it the thirty third nation on the planet to provide nuclear vitality.

The South Asian nation is constructing the first of two nuclear power vegetation in collaboration with Russian state-owned atomic firm Rosatom. Ninety p.c of the $12.65bn challenge is financed via a Russian mortgage repayable inside 28 years with a 10-year grace interval.

“Today is a day of pride and joy for the people of Bangladesh,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stated on Thursday throughout a video convention with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Russian Embassy in Bangladesh known as a “nuclear fuel delivery ceremony”.

Speaking with Hasina through a video hyperlink, Putin thanked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for supervising the challenge, which resulted from a bilateral settlement in 2011.

IAEA head Rafael Grossi posted his congratulations on social media.

“Bangladesh stands as a success story for newcomer countries in nuclear power development, advancing its program under the [IAEA’s] guidance,” he stated.

Completion of the Rooppur plant – situated round 200km (124 miles) west of the capital Dhaka – has been revised a number of instances as a consequence of building being delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the sanctions on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.

The first unit of the plant, with a complete technology capability of two,400 megawatts, was as a consequence of begin operation in July subsequent yr however that has been set again.

Last month, Sergei Lavrov, the first Russian international minister to go to Bangladesh since its 1971 independence, assured Bangladesh that Moscow was dedicated to finishing the challenge on time, regardless of obstacles from Western sanctions over the battle in Ukraine.

Russia’s state information company TASS reported that the design and building of the nuclear power vegetation is being carried out by the engineering division of Rosatom, and the plant could have a life cycle of 60 years with the potential of extending its operations by 20 extra years. Approximately 1,500 of the two,000 employees who will run the plant as soon as it’s operational might be educated in Russia.

Bangladesh has confronted its worst electrical energy disaster since 2013, in accordance with the Reuters information company, as a consequence of erratic climate and issue in paying for gas imports amid declining international foreign money reserves and a weakened nationwide foreign money.

Electricity technology in Bangladesh is presently depending on imported fuel, which has risen sharply in worth because the Russian invasion of Ukraine.