Fuel loading into Rooppur N power plant stalls again

Nuclear power hope amid global fuel crisis fades away for now as the much-awaited fuel loading into Bangladesh's maiden nuclear power plant at Rooppur of Ishwardi stalls again.

The postponement of nuclear fuel loading, thus, delays its commissioning in a major setback to move for ramping up electricity supply.

Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA), the regulator for nuclear-power entities, did not provide necessary licence required for going ahead with the fuel loading, resulting in the postponement of the fuel loading slated for April 7, a senior official of the Ministry of Science and Technology told The Financial Express on April 1.

He cites a number of issues, including fire-fighting preparedness of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) project, not completed 'satisfactorily' ahead of the event. And this is the main cause of non-issuance of licence.

All was set to load fuel at 1,200MW unit-1 of the RNPP project next Tuesday (April 7) with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and Russiaan President Vladimir Putin set to inaugurate it virtually.

"A new date for fuel loading has not yet been fixed," said a senior official of the state-run Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC).

A team will inspect the nuclear-power-plant site within the next three days to see fire safety and other relevant issues, he said.

Earlier, the fuel-loading schedule was in early March following a meeting with Russian Ambassador in Bangladesh Alexander Grigoryevich Khozin.

Electricity supply from the Rooppur plant into national grid was expected to start on a trial basis between June and July and unit-1 was supposed to generate around 1,200 megawatts of electricity in its full capacity by December 2026.

Bangladesh urgently needs to strengthen electricity production and add new capacity to the national grid to ensure energy security and meet a mounting demand.

The 2,400mw-capacity RNPP project is being built in the Rooppur area of Pabna district at a cost of US$12.65 billion, with Russia providing 90 per cent of the project's funding as a loan.

Russian state-owned Rosatom is constructing the power plant with two VVER-1200 reactors, each having a capacity of 1,200 megawatts.

Construction of Unit-1 formally began on November 30, 2017, and Unit-2 on July 14, 2018.

According to the original project proposal, Unit-1 was to be operational by December 23, 2022, and Unit-2 by October 8, 2023, with the entire project scheduled for completion by December 31, 2025.

The COVID-19 pandemic and complexities over payment issues due to the Russia - Ukraine war along with several inter-related factors, including incomplete safety tests and compliance procedures required for power startup, uncertainty regarding actual project costs impacting the finalization of the power-purchase agreement, lack of necessary gridlines, the preparedness of certified reactor operators, and the absence of an established emergency preparedness and response centre delayed the project works.

Russia supplied fuel a couple of years back and the fuel loading at Unit-1 of Rooppur nuclear power plant was then planned for early November, 2025 and start of operations in December 2025.

"A slowdown in the project works after the July-August uprising in 2024 and subsequent change of government have delayed the RNPP works further," said the MoST official.

The Rooppur plant comprises two 1,200-MW VVER-1200 reactors, the latest Russian generation 3+ Russian reactor technology.

Azizjst@yahoo.com