Another Uranium Shipment Reaches Rooppur, Four in Total; Target of 300 Megawatts to the Grid in November
Another shipment of uranium from Russia has reached the project area of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. This is the third shipment to arrive for the second unit.
On Saturday (31 October) at around 7:15 am, under the supervision of the army and amid tight security by other law enforcement agencies, three specialised lorries carrying uranium reached the project area.
With this, a total of four shipments have now reached the project area — one additional uranium shipment for the project's first unit and three for the second unit.
Ishwardi police station officer-in-charge Md Ashadur Rahman confirmed the matter. He said the uranium-carrying lorries reached the project area shortly after 7 am amid tight security.
Earlier, Russia's state nuclear agency Rosatom had said there is a plan to bring 163 uranium assemblies for the second unit in a total of seven cargo flights, and an additional 48 uranium assemblies in two more cargoes for refuelling the first unit, to Bangladesh. In all, this nuclear fuel will be brought in a total of nine shipments.
The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, built with Russian technology, has two units of the VVER-1200 model. Of these, 'Power Start-up Stage-C' activities have begun at the first unit.
Earlier, on Thursday (29 October), the chairman of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA) gave approval to start Stage-C activities at the first unit.
In the Stage-C phase, the reactor's capacity will be gradually increased and the performance of the plant's various equipment, turbine-generator, operation and safety systems will be tested.
If the necessary tests are completed successfully, the first unit's generator will be connected to the national power transmission grid, which is called 'synchronisation'.
If everything proceeds according to plan, there is a target to add about 300 megawatts of electricity experimentally from the first unit to the national grid in November. However, this activity will be completed subject to the regulator's conditions and necessary approvals.
