Bangladesh's Rooppur nuclear plant reaches criticality

Rooppur Nuclear Plant in Bangladesh reaches criticality

Dhaka, October 30

"Bangladesh's Rooppur nuclear power plant, the country's first, has reached criticality, a key milestone toward starting electricity production. Power generation could begin within the next two to three weeks", Faqir Mahbub Anam, Bangladesh's Minister for Science and Technology, told ANI over the phone.

Officials say electricity from Bangladesh's Rooppur nuclear power plant will start feeding into the national grid in the last week of November.

The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Bangladesh's first nuclear power facility, is being constructed in Rooppur village, located along the banks of the Padma River in Pakshi Union, Ishwardi Upazila, Pabna District. With technical assistance from the Russian Federation's State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) and under the oversight of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission.

The project involves the construction of two third-generation VVER-1200 reactor units, which will collectively generate 2,400 megawatts of baseload electricity.

Bangladesh officially ushered in the nuclear age as the initial shipment of low-enriched uranium fuel for Unit 1 of the 2,400 MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) arrived safely from Russia. Manufactured by Rosatom's Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant, the 164 fresh fuel assemblies were flown directly from Russia into Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport aboard a heavy-lift Russian cargo aircraft under strict international safeguards.

From the capital, the radiation-shielded containers were transported along a heavily fortified, "green corridor" guarded by the Bangladesh Army and law enforcement agencies to the plant site in Ishwardi, Pabna, where an official handover ceremony was held in October 2023.

— ANI