IAEA’s Amano Praises Progress At Bangladesh’s Rooppur Nuclear Station

6 Jul (NucNet): Bangladesh is making significant progress in the construction of its first nuclear power plant at Rooppur with strong political commitment, public support, and cooperation by Russia as important indications of advances made at the facility, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Yukiya Amano said during a visit to the country this week. According to the IAEA, Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed stressed the need for more electricity for the development of Bangladesh and said she wanted to expand the country’s nuclear power programme. During this visit, Mr Amano toured the Rooppur nuclear station site, about 200km northwest of Dhaka. In 2014 Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said the Rooppur units, the first nuclear reactors in Bangladesh, would both be 1,200-MW V-392M pressurised water reactors, with Novovoronezh 2-1 and 2-2 being the reference plants. In May 2016, Rosatom said the first unit at Rooppur was scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2022 with a second unit following in 2023. However, the IAEA said this week that the first unit is expected to start generating electricity in 2023.