Ishwardi (Pabna) Correspondent :
Year 2024 was successful for Rooppur nuclear power project (RNPP). The construction and installation of the first unit of the project has already been completed. Various experiments are currently underway in preparation for the startup. If everything goes well, the first unit will start supplying power to the national grid in 2025. The stakeholders hope that the dream of nuclear power will be fulfilled in the new year itself. That is why the project and Greencity area are decorated with colorful lights to welcome the New Year. Meanwhile, the project director of Rooppur NPP said that the construction and installation of the second unit is almost at the final stage.
Project Director of Ruppur NPP. Jahedul Hasan said that it will be possible to go to the test trial if the grid is ready by March next year. It will take about two months to complete the various tests and load the fuel. If everything goes well, the fuel (uranium) loading process will start in 2025. At this stage, after the inspection and final approval of the monitoring team of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the power generation will start and supply to the national grid.
He also said that most of the final stages of construction and installation of the second unit have already been completed. The concreting work of its outer containment wall is completed ahead of schedule. Installation of passive heat removal deflectors for automatic heat removal has also been completed. Other construction and installation work required for commissioning and startup is in progress.
“We have entered the final preparation phase for the startup of the first unit at the Rooppur project,” said Andrei Petrov, Russia’s project director of the Rooppur project, first deputy director general of Rosatom and ASE president. A number of last minute tasks are also being carried out in addition to conducting various experiments to verify the operational capability of the unit and the performance of various process systems in all operation modes. He also said that dummy nuclear fuel loading was completed in the reactor pressure vessel of the first unit in September of the outgoing year. The pressure vessel is finally tested with dummy fuel prior to actual fuel (uranium) loading. Boiler tests of standby diesel generators were completed that month. If for some reason the work of the unit has to be stopped temporarily, then these equipments get the required power from these generators. Technical steam supply begins with the first ignition in the startup boiler room in November. Preparations for testing the unit without nuclear fuel at minimum parameters began on December 18. Currently, work is underway to ensure the effectiveness of its process systems in all operational modes.
Context: Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant is being built at Rooppur in Ishwardi with the financial and technical support of Russia. Each of the two units of the project will have a generating capacity of 1,200 MW. The latest generation 3 Russian VVER reactor has been installed. These reactors are capable of meeting all international safety requirements. If the project is launched, it will meet ten percent of the total electricity demand in Bangladesh. Nuclear power will be clean and environment friendly. The general designer and contractor of the project is the engineering wing of Rosatom.
