Bangladesh’s Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant has received the final regulatory clearance, paving the path to commence electricity generation.
Rooppur, the country’s first nuclear power plant, was given the nod to advance to Stage C by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA), the Daily Star reported on Thursday.
During this stage, the reactor’s power will be increased to produce steam, boost the turbine, and generate electricity. Capacity will gradually be increased in phases.
“Now Unit 1 will proceed with the power startup to begin the generation process,” BAERA Chairman Mahamudul Hasan was quoted as saying by the news outlet. He added that the authority would determine the startup date.
Rosatom head Alexey Likhachev earlier this month told media that the plant is on track to be connected to the national grid by end of next month.
The Rooppur plant, located 160 kilometers from Dhaka on the banks of the Padma River, was built at a cost of $12.65 billion, with Russian financial and technical support. With two VVER-1200 Russian-designed reactors, it will have a combined capacity of 2,400 megawatts. Moscow is financing $11.9 billion in state loans for the project.
Rosatom, which is providing equipment, nuclear fuel, and engineering assistance, expects to commission the second unit in 2027.
Once fully operational, the plant is expected to deliver 12% of Dhaka’s power demand.
Likhachev recently disclosed that Moscow is in talks with Dhaka to build a new phase of Rooppur’s high-capacity units.
“We are primarily talking about a possible additional phase of large units,” Likhachev said on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week forum, adding that Dhaka was also exploring the possibility of small-capacity units and a research reactor.
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