Nuclear power plant to be installed by 2015

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M Azizur Rahman
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) responded positively to the Bangladesh's work plan to set up the country's first nuclear power plant having a generation capacity between 700 megawatt (MW) and 1,000 MW at Rooppur in the northwestern Pabna district.
"The IAEA's response received recently was found to be very positive towards installation of a nuclear power plant," Energy and Power Adviser Tapan Chowdhury told the FE Monday.
He said the IAEA, the global nuclear watchdog, also asked Bangladesh to send a delegation to expedite the process of installing a nuclear power plant with its assistance.
Bangladesh had submitted the work plan to the IAEA last October giving details on how the country planned to install the nuclear power plant at Rooppur and maintain safeguards with proper management of wastes.
The IAEA was pleased with the government commitment for setting up the nuclear power plant, selection of the project site and assurance of utilising the plant for peaceful purposes, a senior Power Division official said.
A five-member delegation comprising nuclear experts from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) is expected to visit Vienna in Austria by mid-January, 2008 to discuss the subject.
Sources said Bangladesh is eyeing to install the nuclear power plant by 2015 to meet the country's mounting electricity demand.
The total investment required in setting up a nuclear plant is anywhere between $ 1.0 billion and $1.5 billion, sources from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) said.
The power adviser earlier took part in the IAEA General Conference in September this year when he met IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei who assured him of providing full technical support to Bangladesh's plan for setting up a nuclear power plant.
Delegations of India, Pakistan, China and Russia, who attended the IAEA general conference, also offered technical assistance to Bangladesh's plan.
A senior BAEC official said a plan was conceived in 1961 to set up a nuclear power plant at Rooppur but it did not materialise.
Before the independence of Bangladesh different companies from the United States, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), the United Kingdom (UK) and Switzerland conducted a number of feasibility studies on the project.
Some 105.30 hectares of land were subsequently acquired for the project site and 12.15 hectares for the residential quarters.
The executive committee of the then National Economic Council approved the project for three different sizes on many occasions - 70 MW in 1963, 140 MW in 1966, and 200 MW in 1969.
Reactor suppliers from the USA, Canada, Sweden, the then USSR and Belgium also had submitted proposals for the supply of reactors of different sizes and types.
But after the emergence of Bangladesh no significant headway has been made on setting up a nuclear of power plant.
It, however, got momentum during the incumbent caretaker government that took office in January 2007.
A two-member delegation comprising - Masanao Moriwaki and Rayman Sollychin - from the IAEA Department of Nuclear Energy visited Bangladesh in June this year and called on Tapan Chowdhury as part of their mission to study the country's nuclear power prospects.
A high-profile Bangladesh delegation visited South Korea in August last to discuss development of a nuclear power plant.
Russia has also shown interest recently to provide technical support for setting up a nuclear power plant, when the Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Chowdhury visited Moscow recently.