The government will open an “information centre” at B angabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novotheatre in the city on Tuesday, in connection with the establishment of the country’s first nuclear power plant in Rooppur. This step is being taken to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) precondition that public queries on nuclear energy should be addressed. Energy-starved Bangladesh has signed a feasibility study contract with Russia to implement the country’s first nuclear power plant for producing 2,000 MW of electricity in Rooppur, 125 km northwest of the capital. The aim is to meet the country’s rising demand for energy, which is growing annually at 10 to 12 per cent. The information centre is a component of this project.
“Before any nuclear power plant is installed in the country, it is a precondition of the IAEA that an information centre should be established. This information centre is part of that precondition,” Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) chairman ASM Firoz told The Independent.
Bangladesh is expected to commission the nuclear power plant by 2017-18 if everything goes according to schedule. However, the country first needs to complete 62 tests to draw up the design of the power plant next year before starting the actual work by 2015 to set up the power plant.
“IAEA and Russian company Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation will work together to meet the standards set by the IAEA. We will check all aspects of the feasibility study carried out by the government in detail,” the BAEC chief said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will lay the foundation of the nuclear power plant on October 2 in Rooppur. Sergey Kirienko, director general of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation of Russia, will accompany her. Nuclear power is a low-cost option for generating electricity from a nuclear reactor. This has pushed energy-starved countries into adopting the technology even though some developed countries have reduced their generation of electricity from nuclear power plants.
IAEA director general Yukiya Amano earlier told this correspondent that Bangladesh is at the stage of the “beginning of the beginning” to establish robust infrastructure based on the milestone document of the IAEA for setting up the Rooppur nuclear power plant. “The IAEA has a milestone document that requires the development of 19 items by Bangladesh to establish the Rooppur power plant. The IAEA will help Bangladesh fulfil the requirements of the document,” he added.
-With The Independent input
