5th batch of uranium reaches RNPP
Staff Reporter :
The fifth consignment of nuclear fuel for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) has reached the project site on Friday morning.
Pakshi Highway police Officer-in-Charge (OC) Ashish Kumar Sanal confirmed that the fifth consignment of uranium has been safely transported to the under-construction Rooppur nuclear power project.
Ashish Kumar Sanal also said that the highway underwent special security arrangements during the transportation process.
To ensure the safety of the convoy, all traffic on the Natore-Kushtia-Pabna highway was temporarily halted from 8:15am to 9:15am.
Following the successful delivery of the uranium to the Rooppur nuclear project, normal traffic flow resumed on the affected route, he added.
It is informed that a total of seven fuel consignments of uranium will be delivered to Rooppur within the next few weeks.
The convoy carrying uranium entered the project area at about 9:25am yesterday.
Besides, the last (fourth) consignment of the ‘fresh nuclear fuel’ reached Rooppur on October 20.
Earlier, the first shipment of Rooppur nuclear power project fuel arrived in Bangladesh on September 28.
The next day, on September 29, fuel was taken from the project area under special security measures.
The RNPP project aims to establish a 2,400MW nuclear power plant with two 1,200MW capacity units.
The first unit’s reactor was loaded in October 2021, while the second unit’s reactor was installed in October 2022.
Meanwhile, on 15 January 2013, an agreement regarding State Export Credit of US$ 500 million was signed for carrying out preparatory phase construction works of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
The government signed a US$12.65 billion general contract (GC) in 2015 with Moscow for building the nuclear power plant.
Bangladesh signed a credit agreement with Russia to obtain $11.385 billion credit for RNPP in July 2016. The credit covers 90 percent of the project cost.
According to the agreement, Russia will supply the fuel used for power generation in Rooppur for free for three years.
The World Nuclear Association data showed, there were 436 nuclear reactors in operation in 32 countries around the world.
The United States had the largest number of nuclear power reactors in operation at the time, at 93 units.
