Bangladesh hopes to load nuclear fuel into the 2,400-megawatt Rooppur nuclear power plant for electricity generation by late 2024 as Russia has completed its supply by air through leapfrogging shipping sanctions, said sources.
"We have planned to load the fuel by November next year and initiate electricity generation either in late 2024 of early 2025," secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology Md Ali Hossain told the FE writer.
He said Russia had completed delivery of nuclear fuel for Bangladesh's maiden nuclear power plant by air cargo a couple of weeks back.
Russia delivered the fuel through seven separate air cargoes to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), after ship consignments were refused by Bangladesh because of western sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine war.
The first Russian cargo aircraft to deliver nuclear fuel had arrived at HSIA on September 28.
The fuel was later taken to the Rooppur nuclear plant site, some 215 km away from the airport in Dhaka, on specialised vehicles on the highway.
Russian state nuclear company Rosatom bore all the costs related to fuel delivery.
"The air delivery of the fuel was done following Bangladesh's going by the US and EU sanctions against Russian vessels and Bangladesh shipping ministry's ban on 69 Russian ships from calling at its ports," said one of the sources.
"Now the nuclear fuels have been stored at the plant site with necessary safeguards," said Mr Hossain, the top government official at the science and technology ministry.
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), a state-run entity under the science and technology ministry, is implementing the Rooppur nuclear power-plant project.
Mr Hossain, however, said that the sanctions against Russian vessels are not hampering delivery of necessary of equipment to the Rooppur plant site that much.
Despite sanctions, the final round of works for Rooppur nuclear power- plant project is continuing, he said, adding that the first power from the Unit-1 of Rooppur plant might come either in late 2024 or early 2025.
Regarding fuel supply, Mr Hossain said Rosatom would supply necessary nuclear fuel for the Rooppur plant for two years from the date of commissioning under an existing deal.
The Russian firm will also take back nuclear waste as per the deal, he said.
"After two years of agreement Bangladesh might pay for nuclear fuel," he said.
Pointing at the repayment issues against Russian funding, Mr Hossain said Bangladesh is not being able to pay Russia the dues against the Russian loan for construction of the Rooppur nuclear power plant owing to sanctions on Russian banks by the US and the EU.
"This is not our fault," he says about the debt buildup.
At present Bangladesh has been setting aside the amount owed to Russia with the Bangladesh Bank, said the government top brass.
In April this year, Bangladesh and Russia, however, reached a consensus on loan repayment for Rooppur nuclear power plant in yuan, as an alternative, a senior official Economic Relations Division (ERD) said.
The meeting between the ERD and Russian officials decided that the payment would be made in the Chinese currency, Yuan, into a Chinese bank account, said the official, preferring anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media.
The ERD deals with foreign loans and currencies against all international trades for Bangladesh.
"Under the arrangement, the Russian beneficiary will receive the payments from the Chinese bank using the China-pioneered Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), and convert it to ruble at its own cost," he said.
Sources have said Bangladesh Bank opened a window for yuan transactions by allowing banks to maintain an account in yuan with their corresponding branches abroad to settle cross-border payments in the Chinese currency several months back.
Bangladeshi exporters are also allowed to hold Yuan in their export- retention quota for trade settlement in the Chinese currency, the ERD official said.
As per the loan agreements signed with Russia for the Rooppur nuclear power plant, Bangladesh was supposed to repay the loan in dollar.
But, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, loan servicing in US dollar halted as some of the largest banks of Russia were expelled from the SWIFT (society for worldwide interbank financial telecom) financial system, which handles the vast majority of cross-border payments.
The Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (VEB), a Russian state-owned institution, which was handling transactions for the Rooppur project, is among those expelled from the SWIFT system.
The Rooppur plant comprises two VVER-1200 reactors with a total power capacity of 24GW.
Atomstroyexport, the international project subsidiary of Rosatom, is the lead contractor for the Rooppur plant, which is being built under a US$13.48-billion supplier-credit deal between Bangladesh and Russia.
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