Atomstroyexport, a unit of Russia's Rosatom, has secured license from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA) for design and construction of unit 2 of the 2400MW Rooppur nuclear power plant (NPP) in Bangladesh.

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Image: Construction underway at the Rooppur nuclear plant in Bangladesh. Photo: courtesy of JSC Atomstroyexport.

Located near Ishwardi in the Pabna district in Bangladesh, the Rooppur plant is being developed with an estimated investment of $12.6bn and is said to be the country’s first nuclear facility to be constructed in three decades.

The power plant, which is aimed to contribute to the country’s energy security, is being implemented by the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC). The construction of the nuclear power plant is being executed according to the Intergovernmental Russian-Bangladesh agreement signed in 2011.

JSC Atomstroyexport, as a part of ASE Group of Companies representing the engineering division of Rosatom, was awarded the construction contract for the Rooppur power plant in 2015.

Under the contract, the firm is responsible for designing, construction and commissioning of two VVER type (AES-2006) pressurized water reactors, each with 1200Mwe generation capacity, on the Rooppur NPP site situated on the eastern bank of the river of Ganges.

Rosatom engineering design head Valery Limarenko said: “JSC ASE Engineering Company as the General Contractor of NPP performs all obligations related to the construction of the Rooppur NPP.

“Currently, the construction of the first power unit is under way, and in July 2018 we plan to start pouring the first concrete into the slab of the reactor compartment of power unit No. 2.”

Construction of unit 1 at Rooppur NPP, which is being supported by International Atomic Energy Agency, has commenced in November 2017.

Atomstroyexport said that work has now commenced on construction of the walls of the reactor building, reinforcement of the reactor building walls and the foundation slab of the auxiliary reactor building, among others.

The two nuclear reactors at the Rooppur power plant are scheduled to be commissioned in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

The nuclear facility is expected to have operational life of not less than 100 years, Atomstroyexport said.