After a long decade of preparation, infrastructure development, and the acquisition of complex technical capabilities, Bangladesh is finally entering the era of nuclear power generation. Today, the process of loading fuel (uranium) into the first unit of the country’s first nuclear power plant at Rooppur is set to begin.
After receiving the commissioning license from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority on April 16, all preparations have been completed, and the activity will be officially launched this afternoon.
On this occasion, the Director General of Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, is expected to arrive in Dhaka in the morning with an 18-member delegation. According to government sources, he will meet with Prime Minister Tareq Rahman in Dhaka before traveling by helicopter to the Rooppur project site.
At the event, Minister of Science and Technology Fakir Mahbub Anam, along with relevant Russian ministers and high-level representatives, will inaugurate the fuel loading process.
Due to delays in meeting international safety guidelines and technical requirements, the start of fuel loading had been scheduled several times before but could not proceed. However, all obstacles have now been overcome, and the first unit of Rooppur is fully ready. A total of 59 Bangladeshi experts have already received operating licenses to participate in this process.
According to Anwar Hossain, Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the fuel loading process will take approximately 45 days to complete. If everything proceeds as planned, at least 300 megawatts of electricity from the first unit will be added to the national grid by the end of July or early August. By the end of the year or early next year, the unit is expected to reach full capacity, generating 1,200 megawatts of electricity.
The project, built on the banks of the Padma River in Ishwardi, Pabna, has cost approximately $12.65 billion. Constructed with financial and technical assistance from Russia, the power plant uses modern VVER-1200 reactor technology. Once both units are fully operational, the plant will generate a total of 2,400 megawatts of electricity, which is expected to meet a significant portion of the country’s power demand.
