Ceremony marks Rooppur nuclear fuel licences

Wednesday, 19 July 2023

The Class B licence authorises the purchase, ownership, handling and storage of nuclear materials, the Class D licence allows the Russian transport company to transport nuclear materials and the Class E licence approves the import of nuclear materials. They were handed to the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission.

Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear energy corporation, said the official ceremony was overseen by Yeafesh Osman, Bangladesh's Minister of Science and Technology "who stressed the importance of the Rooppur construction project ... and wished its successful implementation".

Alexey Deriy, director for the Rooppur nuclear power plant construction project, said: "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."

Russia agreed to build Bangladesh's first nuclear power plant in a 2011 intergovernmental agreement, and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission signed an initial USD12.65 billion contract with Rosatom for the construction of two 1200 MWe VVER pressurised water reactors at Rooppur, 160 kilometres from the capital Dhaka, at the end of 2015. Construction of the first unit began in November 2017 and the second the following July.

Concreting of unit 1's outer containment building was completed in March in 110 days, 45 days ahead of schedule, according to Rosatom. All the plant's fuel is being provided by Rosatom under a contract finalised in August 2019, and the final protocol required for delivery to go ahead was signed in May. Osman said last month they hoped the first nuclear fuel would arrive in September. The first unit is scheduled to be commissioned next year. All used fuel from the plant will be repatriated to Russia.