RNPP is another step towards Smart Bangladesh: PM

BSS :
Reiterating to build the country as “Smart Bangladesh”, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) is another step in building smart Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh will be turned into a smart country in future, and the nuclear power plant is another step towards building that Smart Bangladesh,” she said at the RNPP Graduation Ceremony at the plant site in Ishwardi, Pabna, joining virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.

Russian President Vladimir Putin joined the ceremony virtually from Kremlin, Moscow.

Sheikh Hasina said the design and construction of the plant is being carried out keeping in mind that the nuclear power plant is not damaged during any kind of disaster.

In this connection, she also mentioned that the Russian Federation has promised to take back the spent fuel of the RNPP to their country.

“We’ve signed an agreement with the Russian Federation for the management of spent fuel.

The Russian Federation will take this spent fuel back to their country,” she added.

“We will use nuclear power to protect peace,” said the Prime Minister, expressing her firm commitment to the complete elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide and to the implementation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi also spoke joining the event virtually from Vienna.

With Science and Technology Minister Architect Yeafesh Osman in the chair, ROSATOM Director General Alexy Likhachev spoke at the event.

At the outset, an audio-video documentary on the manufacturing and delivery of the first batch of nuclear fuel for RNPP was screened, while RNPP Project Director and Managing Director of NPCBL Dr Md Shawkat Akbar made introduction of the RNPP

Science and Technology Secretary Md Ali Hossain delivered welcome address.

Later, the certificate of fuel delivery was handed to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on behalf of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, while the model of the fuel assembly was handed over to Science and Technology Minister Architect Yeafesh Osman by ROSATOM Director General Alexy Likhachev.