Nuclear reactor to be used for power generation only: Tapan

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M Azizur Rahman
Energy and Power Adviser Tapan Chowdhury has assured the visiting International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegates of utilisation nuclear reactor only for power generation if the country goes for installation of nuclear power plant.
"We will be transparent if we go for setting up nuclear power plant," he was quoted as telling the IAEA delegates at meeting at the secretariat Tuesday morning.
Talking about the safety measures the energy and power adviser said a group of nuclear safety team from the United States, which visited the country a couple of months ago, was happy about the country's security status.
Regional cooperation will also be required if Bangladesh decides on setting up nuclear power plant, Tapan Chowdhury told the IAEA delegates during the meting.
The IAEA delegates - Masanao Moriwaki and Rayman Sollychin - from the IAEA Department of Nuclear Energy called on Tapan Chowdhury as part of their mission to study the country's nuclear power prospects.
The visiting IAEA delegates, who have already held meetings with the country's engineers and consultants at the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), were upbeat about their quality and innovations.
"They are excellent and promising," the IAEA officials said about the country's engineers and scientists, who are involved in nuclear related technology in the country.
They also hoped that these engineers and scientists could be utilised for exploiting the nuclear technology.
The energy and power adviser thanked the IAEA through the visiting IAEA delegates for keeping Bangladesh as the number one among seven other countries in the common use criteria (CUC) list for allowing utilisation of the nuclear technology in installation of power plant.
The countries in the IAEA's CUC list include Bangladesh, Belarus, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Egypt and a consortium of four countries - Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland.
The consortium of four countries has been treated as a single country in the CUC listing of the IAEA, said sources.
Talking further on Tuesday's meeting Tapan Chowdhury said: "Ours is a power-starved country and thus looking for every avenues to augment electricity generation to ease the nagging electricity crisis."
He said the incumbent government is keen to go ahead fast for utilising the electricity generating avenues without any delay.
Secretary of the Ministry of Science, Information and Communication Technology (MoSICT) and the BAEC chairman were among others attended the meeting.
Sources said nuclear technology is being utilised in many countries in the globe, including those South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, especially India and Pakistan.
In India 15 nuclear power units are in operation, eight more are under construction and 24 are in the pipeline.
It has already achieved independence in its nuclear fuel cycle. Nuclear power currently supplies around four per cent of its total electricity needs in India.
Pakistan has two reactors in operation, one is under construction and two more are planned for installation.
It generates almost three per cent of its electricity through using nuclear power.
Bangladesh, however, has a three-megawatt (MW) 'Triga Mark' research reactor in operation at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) at Savar for carrying out research and development (R&D) activities and production of certain short-lived radioisotopes.
According to the IAEA, the total nuclear power installed worldwide by 2004 was 366 gigawatt (GW).
But the agency has projected nuclear power generation to reach 423-592 GW worldwide by 2030.
As of 2004 Asia accounted for 18 of the 26 reactors under construction and for 20 of the last 30 reactors to have been connected to the grid.
There were 440 nuclear power plants (NPPs) worldwide operating at the end of 2004.
Over the course of the year, nuclear power supplied 16 per cent of the world's electricity.