Bangladesh to receive nuclear fuel for Rooppur plant in September

Bangladesh's dream of nuclear power generation is approaching reality, as the country is going to receive nuclear fuel for the first unit of its maiden nuclear power plant next September.

"The nuclear fuel — uranium — will arrive in Bangladesh in September. We are expecting that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general and Russian president will virtually join our prime minister at the handover programme," said Science and Technology Minister Architect Yeafesh Osman.

"Implementation work of the Rooppur power plant has reached a point that we are very close to graduation [operation]," he said at a press conference organised by the Bangladesh Council of Science and Industrial Research (BCSIR) to launch Bangladesh's first smartphone-based application called "Surja Bidyut". 

"When nuclear fuel arrives, then it is considered that the country is graduating for this work," he said.

Bangladesh is implementing its maiden nuclear power generation infrastructure, the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant at Ishwardi‎ upazila in ‎Pabna‎.

As per the project plan, the first unit of the 2,400MW nuclear power plant is expected to commence commercial operation in the first quarter of 2024.

The $13 billion project is being implemented by the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission with the technical and financial support of Russia.

Before fuel delivery, safety measures and a lot of essential infrastructure, such as power transmission lines and telecommunication, have to be ensured and certified by the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) visiting team, said officials related to the project.

Refuelling once every 18 months

The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) inked a contract with Russia's state-run uranium mining and nuclear fuel production company TVEL in August 2019 for importing nuclear fuel for the plant.

Sources at the BAEC said one-third of the nuclear fuel in the plant will have to be changed every 18 months.

Dr Md Shawkat Akbar, project director at Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, earlier said that the necessary stock of uranium will remain on standby on the project site after the required amount is loaded into the rector.

He said the Russian Federation will provide the fuel for the plant till 2027 under the general contract made as part of the construction. For that, Bangladesh will not need to pay them.

As per the contract with TVEL, considering the inflation of dollars and euros in the international market, the price per kilogram of uranium was estimated at $550 till 2027.

As per a parameter of the Methodology of Contract Price, the cost of refuelling of a single unit will be $62 million each time.

However, the price of the uranium will be evaluated and revised every 10 years. "Every year, there will be 30-35 tonnes of uranium for each unit of the plant," Dr Md Shawkat Akbar added.

Mobile app for solar power users

Currently, the solar home system (SHS) is being used at the household level in rural areas that are facing intense load shedding.

But consumers often face challenges, including fraudulent activities from commercial entities while going to install a solar system on top of their residence.

The Institute of Fuel Research Development at BCSIR, has developed a smartphone app named "Surja Bidyut" with an aim to help consumers in installing solar panels conveniently, without any harassment or fraud.

Muhammad Shahriar Bashar, the principal scientific officer at the Institute of Fuel Research Development at BCSIR, said this app will support customers in determining how many solar panels they would require against a certain demand.

"Generally, consumers face a huge cost for setting up a solar home system as panel sellers give them over estimation against their demand. But, this application will estimate the number of solar panels and capacity of the battery as per the consumers' requirement," said Shahriar Bashar.   

This app will be available in the google play store after 72 hours from Saturday.

Users of the app will have the ability to perform maintenance tasks, including the installation of solar power technology, and also receive assistance for any post-installation problems.