My attention was drawn to the comment by an environmental activist in the report on HR development, published on April 8, 2015, which was very mild and soft. Possibly the activist is not aware of the horrifying and fatal risk that is associated with radiation leakage in any U236-fuelled atomic power plant that we seem set on procuring. Factually speaking, it will be a hugely dangerous and fatal risk with over seventy per cent, if not higher, chance of happening if we go for the prohibitively expensive costs of having a U236-fuelled nuclear power plant.
The so-called experts who after return from Russia for technical briefing, could get better knowledge, if they read and understand about the potentially dangerous possibilities and the events that happened in Russia, USA, UK, Europe and Japan from radiation leakage-related accidents. They can consult Google on the subject. The answer to one significant query from this writer was: "The Russians know about it". This stopped me from probing any more from them. This took place in a meeting with them a few years ago on our proposed Atomic Power Plant at the Institute of Engineers. This writer feels scared that this will be a case of the 'blind leading the blind' and over it the ever-present language barrier, between the Bangladeshi and the Russian personnel that will be involved.
This writer seriously and sincerely believes that we should drop this dangerous project now rather than be sad and sorry some years down the road. If at all, we want to have nuclear power plant, we should go for a number of U-235 or even U-238-fuelled absolutely radiation-safe, nuclear power plants that we can get from China and many other countries at a much lower price and with no potential risk at all. Such small U235 or U238 nuclear power plants are there in a few US universities as part of their teaching programme for students in nuclear engineering.
Further, I hope that our nuclear experts are aware of the recent accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, which happened as a result of extreme bad weather. They should also be aware, that despite all the steps taken, radiation sickness can affect the persons working at the plants and their future children till at least the year 2090. In Bangladesh also we have floods, heavy storms and cyclones, not to mention earthquakes. The effect of such a natural disaster can be a tragedy for the proposed nuclear power plant that could also be a source of dangerous and fatal radiation leakage.
Given these realities, I think, we should go for U235 or U238-fuelled absolutely radiation-free nuclear power plants of the same capacity to be procured at a much cheaper price. To their advantage, those need no safe zones and other precautions. These can be installed and operated anywhere with no risk of any accident happening. Such plants can be had from China, South Africa and many Europen countries.
The writer is an engineer.
sam@dhakacom.com
Purchasing a nuclear power plant
S. A. Mansoor | Published: April 17, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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