Bangladesh Atomic Energy Agency and a Russian company have received permission to import, transport and store nuclear fuel for Rooppur Nuclear Power Project.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guidelines, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Authority on Thursday granted a license to import and store nuclear fuel to the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Agency, and a Russian company was granted permission to transport nuclear fuel by ensuring safety.

Three separate licenses were awarded in a licensing ceremony at a hotel in Pabna on Thursday evening. Through this, Bangladesh achieved a very important milestone in the production of nuclear power, the ability to import fuel, said the project director of the nuclear regulatory structure development project of the Atomic Energy Regulatory AuthoritySatyajit Ghosh.

Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority chairman engineer Md. Mozammel Hossain presided over the event as the chief guest of science and technology minister architect Yafes Osman. Ziaul Hasan, secretary of the ministry of science and technology, deputy chairman of Rostecnazor of Rashan Federation, deputy director of Rosatom Mr. A. Y. Petrov, chairman of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Prof. Dr. Ashok Kumar Pal.

Science and Technology minister Yafes Osman said, “We have proved our capability by granting licenses for import, transportation and storage of nuclear fuel.” Bangladesh has been following the guidelines of IAEA since the beginning of implementation of Rooppur nuclear power project. They have been instrumental in moving the project forward by advising us, and correcting our mistakes. Minister said that with the cooperation of all, Bangladesh has reached the final stage of nuclear power project implementation.

Bayer project director Dr. Satyajit Ghosh said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has specific guidelines for the use of nuclear power. It is regulated and supervised by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority of Bangladesh. The companies involved in implementation of Rooppur project have to take license from us for import, transportation and storage of nuclear fuel. Bayra has agreed to grant them this license after they have been satisfied with repeated reviews and evaluations after submitting documents fulfilling the required conditions for the past one year after they applied for the license.

Through this, there is no obstacle in the import of fuel for the country’s first nuclear power plant coming September this year.
Those concerned with the project said that Bangladesh will officially join the international nuclear club as a director of atomic energy after the import and storage of this nuclear fuel is completed. In addition to getting this status, Bangladesh will also be known as a country with nuclear power in the court of the world. Also, there will be no major challenges to start production in the power plant.

Rooppur nuclear power plant construction project project director Dr. Shaukat Akbar said that in the matter of importing, transporting and maintaining uranium as a fuel for nuclear power plants, international regulations and policies should be followed and infrastructure should be created. Bangladesh has also proved its capability by working according to the principles of IAEA at every step to ensure the peaceful location of nuclear power.

Shawkat Akbar said, ‘In the case of fuel import and transportation, notification of IAEA will be required. Permission will be required in light of the export policy of the Russian Federation. It requires building control infrastructure, organisational infrastructure, skills and manpower. By fulfilling all the conditions we got the license for storage, import and transportation.

The project director of the country’s largest project claims that Rooppur’s energy import is another milestone for the country. He said, “At the practical level in the Vaishika Nuclear Club, we have gone through construction once, fuel imports again to rise to the status of a nuclear energy handling country.”

Shawkat Akbar said, ‘Operational commissioning involves many of our infrastructures, physical production, offsite telecommunications, emergency management infrastructure.’ We hope that we will be able to complete them within the stipulated time in accordance with the instructions of the IAEA.

The power project under construction on the banks of Padma River at Rooppurof Ishwardi in Pabna. Pabna is the single biggest infrastructure project in the country’s history. The Rooppur nuclear power project is being implemented by the Atomic Energy Commission under the Ministry of Science and Technology with technical and financial support from Russia. The general designer and contractor of the project is the engineering arm of Rosatom Corporation of Russia.

The two units of this power project have 3+ generation Russian VVER reactors, which are capable of meeting all international safety requirements. Already three quarters of the construction of this project has been completed. A total of 2400 MW of power will be added to the national grid from the first unit of the center in 2024 and 1200 MW from the second unit the following year.