Shamim Jahangir: The government will establish a security station at Rooppur Nuclear Power plant area for ensuring the safety and security of the country’s maiden nuclear plant being built at Ishardi in Pabna.
The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant authorities will acquire 100.51 acres of land in December from Ishardi North Bengal Paper Mills for setting up the base station of the plant’s security unit, reliable sources confirmed.
The government has decided in this regard last month at an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Science and Technology Minister Architect Yeafesh Osman.
The meeting asked the ministry of industries to hand over the land to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) by December 31, 2020.
Ishardi North Bengal Paper Mill was established in 1966 on 133 acres of land. The mill started production in 1975 with 15,000 tonnes of production capacity per month. The plant was shut down in 2002.
Russian company JSC ELERON will build the Physical Protection System (PPS) of the Rooppure Nuclear Power Plant.
An Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract among the Nuclear Security and Physical Protection System Cell (NSPC) and Bangladesh Army was signed to ensure physical protection of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in the middle of the current year.
The construction of the security station is valued Tk 24.23 billion and the amount is excluded from the main expenditure of the project, says a press release issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Now, the unit-1 is expected to commence provisional takeover or pre-commercial operation on February 17, 2024, from previously scheduled October 2023. The unit-1 of the plant will commence operations in February 2025, official sources confirmed.
Besides, the work of loading uranium fuel into the first reactor will begin on February 21, 2023, as per the new schedule. It will be on October 8, 2023, for unit-2.
The start of test and checking equipment for unit-1 will begin on January 19, 2022, reliable sources said.
A total of 11,000 people including 2417 foreign officials are working relentlessly to implement the project.
Another 2500 foreigners will join the project within December.
Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will consist of two power units equipped with two VVER reactors, the life cycle of which is 60 years with an option to extend the service life for another 20 years. The power capacity of each unit will be 1200 MW.
A third-generation technology is being used to construct the plant with a five-layer security system. With the first nuclear power plant at Rooppur, Bangladesh will become the third Asian country — after India and Pakistan — to harness the power of atoms.
In 2017, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the construction of the main concrete structure for the nuclear furnace, with the construction beginning in July of the following year.