Russian technologies for Bangladesh’s nuclear station Rooppur

Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant Rooppur will be built using the latest Russian technologies that enable the highest level of safety for nuclear power engineering installations. The statement was made by OAO NIAEP Vice President for South Asia Projects Andrei Lebedev as a Bangladesh delegation visited the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, representatives of OAO NIAEP’s communications office told BelTA.

Andrei Lebedev said: “We will enable the construction of the newest and safest nuclear power plant that will meet all the international safety standards as well as the post-Fukushima enhanced safety requirements. It will operate effectively and reliably in any climatic conditions”.

The Bangladesh delegation comprised diplomats, representatives of the Nuclear Energy Commission, the Science and Technology Ministry, and members of the expert community of Bangladesh. The visit was aimed at getting familiar with results of the construction and installation efforts exercised during the preparatory stage at the Belarusian nuclear power plant construction site and at negotiating the final version of the contract to perform initial construction and installation work prior to concrete pouring at the construction site of the nuclear power plant Rooppur.

Director of the nuclear power plant Rooppur project, Doctor Mohammad Shawkat Akbar believes that the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant represents up-to-date experience of the utilization of Russian technologies. In November the Ostrovets site saw the launch of concrete pouring operations to build the first power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant while the construction site of the nuclear power plant Rooppur has just opened.

According to Yuri Pustovoi, OAO NIAEP’s director for building the Belarusian nuclear power plant, director of OAO NIAEP’s representative office, it took only 15 months to complete the construction and installation base and complete the necessary preparations at the construction sites of the first and second power-generating units of the Belarusian nuclear power plant.

The latest and safest Russian design AES-2006 has been chosen to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant. It meets all the international norms and recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The VVER-TOI design is the successor of the AES-2006 design. According to the Russian side, Bangladesh will choose the specific nuclear station design during the preparation of the general contract.

Russia and Bangladesh have been cooperating in peaceful uses of nuclear energy since May 2010. Since then the sides have signed an agreement on cooperation in building a nuclear power plant, an agreement on a loan for the preparatory stage of the nuclear power plant Rooppur construction, a contract for the development of documents to substantiate investments in the construction and for the assessment of the environmental impact, a preparatory period contract for the development of the nuclear power plant’s technical design.

The construction site of Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant was opened on 2 October 2013. It is located on the eastern bank of the Ganges River (known as the Padma River in Bangladesh) near the town of Rooppur, Pabna District about 160km to the northwest of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.

The united company OAO Nizhny Novgorod Engineering Company Atomenergoproject (NIAEP) – ZAO Atomstroyexport (ASE) is a leading provider in nuclear engineering business. The company offers designing, construction, and decommissioning of nuclear power plants in Russia and abroad. The company occupies about 30% of the global market of nuclear power plant design and construction services. The company is the general designer and the contractor for building the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The first power-generating unit of the Belarusian power plant is scheduled for commissioning in 2018. Once both power-generating units are online, the installed capacity of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will be 2,388MW. With the operational life of 50 years the power plant is expected to generate 17,095.1 million kWh of electricity generation in basic mode annually.