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Bangladesh will load maiden nuclear fuel into first 1,200-megawatt (MW) unit of Rooppur 2,400MW nuclear power plant in February 2023 to start its operations.
Fuel loading into another 1,200MW unit of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) project would be done six months later, said RNPP project director Shawkat Akbar.
A tripartite agreement among stakeholders like fuel supplier, Russian contractor and Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, the implementing authority of the RNPP, would be required, he told the FE.
According to Mr Akbar, work on the country's first nuclear power plant is ongoing in full swing to ensure its timely implementation.
All physical and mechanical equipment of the first unit would be installed by December 2021, he said.
Similar equipment for the second unit will be installed six months later by June 2022.
Bangladesh is continuing construction work on the nuke plant amid a countrywide hard lockdown beginning from July 01 with intent to contain coronavirus, he said. It eyes the commissioning of the first unit by 2023 and the second by 2024, Mr Akbar said.
The country is currently receiving various process equipment, including reactor pressure vessel and steam generator, after building a dedicated freight water terminal on the nearby Padma river.
It took one and a half years to construct the freight cargo terminal.
Atomstroyexport, the Russian state nuclear power company Rosatom's international project subsidiary, is the lead contractor for the Rooppur plant.
It will have two units, each with 1,200MW power generation capacity. Each unit will be a generation 3+ Russian VVER-1200.
The life cycle of VVER-1200 reactors planned for Rooppur is 60 years, with the possibility of further extension, said Mr Akbar.
The Rooppur plant is being built under a supplier's credit deal with Russia.
The Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs and Bangladesh's state-owned Sonali Bank Ltd will work as authorised banks for the state loan.
The Bangladesh government will also provide Tk 220.52 billion ($2.56 billion) of its own funding for the project. First concrete for unit-01 was poured on November 30, 2017, and that for unit-02 on July 14.
The design and construction work on the site are being performed by Atomstroyexport, the engineering division of Rosatom.