Bangladesh embarks on nuke power programme
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
News Code: 80842904 (0) Date: 1392/07/10 - 19:50
New Delhi, Oct 2, IRNA -- Bangladesh Wednesday Laid the foundation stone for its first 2,000-MW nuclear power plant complex to be built with Russian assistance.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated work on the Rooppur nuclear power plant at Pabna district the countrys northwest, which will have two 1,000-MW reactors that are expected to cost about USD 4 billion.
It is a milestone in the use of technology (in Bangladesh)...I believe it fulfils the nations dream, Hasina told the groundbreaking ceremony, pti reported. The nuclear plant is expected to be completed in the next five years and will provide 10 per cent of the countrys total power under an energy roadmap, she said.
Bangladesh aims to increase power production to 20,000 MW by 2021.
The ceremony came two years after Bangladesh and Russia signed a crucial agreement on cooperation for the nuclear plant, which is expected to be completed by 2017-18.
Bangladesh signed an initial deal with Russias state-run nuclear agency Rosatom in November 2011 to build the plant to meet its growing energy needs.
During Hasinas visit to Moscow in January, the two sides signed an agreement whereby Russia will provide a USD 500 million loan to Bangladesh for the plant.
Officials said the Rooppur plant will be built with third generation technology and protected by five layers of security in line with directives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which gave its green signal for the project in 2007.
A total of 162 acres was acquired for the plant in 1963, when Bangladesh was the eastern wing of Pakistan but the project was shelved for decades awaiting IAEA approval.
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