Govt takes fresh move to set up N-power plant
Thursday, 26 March 2009
M Azizur Rahman
The government has initiated a fresh move for setting up a US$1.0 billion nuclear power plant to meet the mounting demand for electricity in the country, a minister said Tuesday.
The country's chronic energy problem has prompted the government to ponder over installation of the country's first nuclear power plant, said State Minister for Science and Information & Communication Technology Yafes Osman.
"We already got several offers from different countries including China and South Korea, which assured us of help set up the nuclear power plant. Russia has recently placed a comprehensive proposal in this connection," he told the FE Tuesday.
Setting up the nuclear power plant with a generation capacity of 600MW-1, 000MW will help overcome the country's nagging electricity crisis and facilitate smooth industrial production, said the minister
Scores of industrial units along with some power plants across the country remained inoperative for over a year only due to non-availability of sufficient energy.
The country's natural gas production is now around 1880 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) against the demand for over 2,050mmcfd and electricity generation is hovering around 3,500 megawatts (MW) against the demand for over 5,000MW.
Despite having abundant coal reserves, production of electricity using the fuel from the country's lone coalmine at Barapukuria is only 250MW.
The energy crisis is denting the prospect of new industrialisation, the minister said spelling out the necessity for installing the nuclear power plant.
Besides, the newly elected government, led by Awami League, has an agenda for setting up a nuclear power plant at Rooppur in northwestern Pabna, some 300 kilometers off the capital.
"We are being prepared to facilitate installing the nuclear power plant," Acting Chairman of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission M Liaquat Ali told the FE.
He said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has already assured Bangladesh of providing necessary technical support for setting up the plant.
The country has a 46-year long plan to set up a nuclear power plant at Rooppur, which was conceived in 1961.
Before 1971, when Bangladesh was a part of the then Pakistan, different companies from the United States, the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), 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 blocks.
But after the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971 no significant headway was made in setting up the nuclear power plant.
The government has initiated a fresh move for setting up a US$1.0 billion nuclear power plant to meet the mounting demand for electricity in the country, a minister said Tuesday.
The country's chronic energy problem has prompted the government to ponder over installation of the country's first nuclear power plant, said State Minister for Science and Information & Communication Technology Yafes Osman.
"We already got several offers from different countries including China and South Korea, which assured us of help set up the nuclear power plant. Russia has recently placed a comprehensive proposal in this connection," he told the FE Tuesday.
Setting up the nuclear power plant with a generation capacity of 600MW-1, 000MW will help overcome the country's nagging electricity crisis and facilitate smooth industrial production, said the minister
Scores of industrial units along with some power plants across the country remained inoperative for over a year only due to non-availability of sufficient energy.
The country's natural gas production is now around 1880 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) against the demand for over 2,050mmcfd and electricity generation is hovering around 3,500 megawatts (MW) against the demand for over 5,000MW.
Despite having abundant coal reserves, production of electricity using the fuel from the country's lone coalmine at Barapukuria is only 250MW.
The energy crisis is denting the prospect of new industrialisation, the minister said spelling out the necessity for installing the nuclear power plant.
Besides, the newly elected government, led by Awami League, has an agenda for setting up a nuclear power plant at Rooppur in northwestern Pabna, some 300 kilometers off the capital.
"We are being prepared to facilitate installing the nuclear power plant," Acting Chairman of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission M Liaquat Ali told the FE.
He said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has already assured Bangladesh of providing necessary technical support for setting up the plant.
The country has a 46-year long plan to set up a nuclear power plant at Rooppur, which was conceived in 1961.
Before 1971, when Bangladesh was a part of the then Pakistan, different companies from the United States, the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), 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 blocks.
But after the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971 no significant headway was made in setting up the nuclear power plant.