Dhaka, Moscow sign MoU on N-power plant
Thursday, 14 May 2009
FE Report
Bangladesh signed Wednesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russia aiming to boost bilateral cooperation for setting up its first nuclear power plant.
The MoU, signed between the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) and the
Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation - Rosatom - creates a formal mechanism to initiate talks for peaceful use nuclear technology and subsequently installation of a nuclear power plant.
"This is a part of the government effort to install a nuclear power plant which was incorporated in the electoral manifesto," Prime Minister's Adviser on energy issues Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said.
The country requires reliable power at sustainable and affordable propositions for longer duration, he said while speaking at the MoU signing ceremony in the secretariat.
The MoU with the Russia is not the final instrument on which a nuclear power plant could be set up, said State Minister for Science and Information and Communication Technology Yeafes Osman.
This is similar to those signed with the USA and China before, he added.
"This is, however, one step forward towards implementing our election commitment to building up a nuclear power project in Rooppur," he added.
"Bangladesh has a plan to install a nuclear power plant having the electricity generation capacity between 600-1,000 megawatts (mw). To install the plant we will seek proposals from other countries too and finally accept the most competitive one," Mr Osman added.
It might take at least five years to install the planned nuclear power plant after signing of the final agreement.
And the installation cost might be between US $1.5-2 billion, the state minister said.
The BAEC acting chairman Mosharraf Hossain and the Director General (DG) of Rosatom NN Spasskiy signed the MoU Wednesday on behalf of the Bangladesh and Russian governments.
Bangladesh signed Wednesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russia aiming to boost bilateral cooperation for setting up its first nuclear power plant.
The MoU, signed between the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) and the
Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation - Rosatom - creates a formal mechanism to initiate talks for peaceful use nuclear technology and subsequently installation of a nuclear power plant.
"This is a part of the government effort to install a nuclear power plant which was incorporated in the electoral manifesto," Prime Minister's Adviser on energy issues Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said.
The country requires reliable power at sustainable and affordable propositions for longer duration, he said while speaking at the MoU signing ceremony in the secretariat.
The MoU with the Russia is not the final instrument on which a nuclear power plant could be set up, said State Minister for Science and Information and Communication Technology Yeafes Osman.
This is similar to those signed with the USA and China before, he added.
"This is, however, one step forward towards implementing our election commitment to building up a nuclear power project in Rooppur," he added.
"Bangladesh has a plan to install a nuclear power plant having the electricity generation capacity between 600-1,000 megawatts (mw). To install the plant we will seek proposals from other countries too and finally accept the most competitive one," Mr Osman added.
It might take at least five years to install the planned nuclear power plant after signing of the final agreement.
And the installation cost might be between US $1.5-2 billion, the state minister said.
The BAEC acting chairman Mosharraf Hossain and the Director General (DG) of Rosatom NN Spasskiy signed the MoU Wednesday on behalf of the Bangladesh and Russian governments.