On the 2nd of October the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh signed a technical contract for construction of Ruppur NPP.
The document was signed by Valery Limarenko, President of the United Company NIAEP-Atomstroyexport, and Abu Sayeed Mohammadd Firoz, Chairman of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, in the presence of Director General of ROSATOM Sergey Kirienko and Vice President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina Vazed. After that a NPP stone-laying ceremony was held.
“We have signed the contract for designing the nuclear power plant. In fact, this is the basic design. The work will take approximately two years and upon its completion there will be the basis for getting appropriate licenses and for the start of the construction process. This is a vital contract, which speaks of seriousness of intentions of both parties,” V. Limarenko said. Thus, the work on the plant design can be completed already by October 2015. The President of the United Company NIAEP-Atomstroyexport also noted that in November one more contract for priority construction and installation works would be signed.
The plant will consist of two VVER reactors. Valery Limarenko pointed out that the design will base on one of modifications of AES-2006 technology, which “will be used especially for the site and conditions, in which the plant will operate.” At that, the President of the United Company NIAEP-Atomstroyexport emphasized that “the most cutting edge project,” which now pertains to Generation III+, would be implemented in Bangladesh. At the same time, a final selection of the technology will be made depending on “the site conditions, which will be identified basing on results of engineering surveys.” The engineering surveys on Ruppur site are carried out by Atomenergoproekt.
Construction of NPP in Bangladesh is planned to start in early 2014 on the site located at a distance of 160 km from the country’s capital Dhaka on the left bank of the Padma River. The future plant area is 105 hectares. The preparatory work on the site is assumed to start in the beginning of 2014 and the active construction phase will begin in 2015 and will take about five years. On the Russian side, the United Company NIAEP-Atomstroyexport will undertake design and commissioning of the power units. It is planned that the construction of NPP will provide jobs for 1,500 up 5,000 people.
The countries signed the intergovernmental agreement on the cooperation in construction of NPP in November 2011. In January 2013 an agreement concerning Russia’s giving a loan to Bangladesh for the pre-construction activities was signed.
On the 1st of October the Nuclear Energy Information Center was started up in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novotheatre in Dhaka (Bangladesh). The center was launched as the result of implementation of the Memorandum of Intentions signed by ROSATOM and the Ministry of Science and Technologies of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on June 4, 2012. Employees of the new information center are to inform guests about nuclear power and to build up a positive image of the nuclear industry. The target audience will be schoolchildren, teachers of senior and higher education establishments, governmental officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations, and mass media. The information center’s baseline program is in Bengali and English.