Bangladesh has secured Russia’s first supply of uranium fuel for its first nuclear power plant, making it the 33rd country in the world to produce nuclear power.
The South Asian country is building the first of two nuclear plants in collaboration with Russia’s state-owned nuclear company Rosatom. Ninety of the $12. 65 billion allocation is financed by a Russian loan repayable over 28 years with a 10-year grace period.
“Today is a day of pride and joy for the other peoples of Bangladesh,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Thursday in a video conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom the Russian embassy in Bangladesh has summoned to a “nuclear fuel handover ceremony. “
Speaking to Hasina via video link, Putin thanked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for overseeing the project, which is the result of a bilateral agreement in 2011.
IAEA leader Rafael Grossi posted his congratulations on social media.
“Bangladesh is a tale of good fortune for new countries in nuclear energy development as it moves its timeline forward under [the IAEA’s] leadership,” he said.
– Rafael Mariano Grossi (@rafaelmgrossi) October 5, 2023
The completion of the Rooppur military plant, about two hundred kilometers west of the capital Dhaka, has been reviewed several times due to structural delays due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and sanctions imposed on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.
The first unit of the plant, with a total production capacity of 2,400 megawatts, was scheduled to come online in July next year, but has been delayed.
Last month, Sergei Lavrov, the first Russian foreign minister to stop in Bangladesh since independence in 1971, confided in Bangladesh that Moscow was committed to completing the task on time, despite the hurdles of Western sanctions similar to the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that the design and structure of the nuclear power plants is being carried out through Rosatom’s engineering department and that the plant will have a 60-year life cycle with the option to extend its operations for 20 years. Around 1,500 of the 2,000 employees who will manage the plant once operational will be trained in Russia.
– TASS (@tassagency_en) October 5, 2023
Bangladesh is facing its worst crisis of strength since 2013, according to the Reuters news agency, due to erratic weather and difficulties paying for fuel imports amid dwindling foreign exchange reserves and a weakening national currency.
Electricity generation in Bangladesh today relies on imported gas, the value of which has risen sharply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.