During the visit, the officials of Bangladesh side accompanied the contractor of the project.
The ROSATOM says a 200-member team would start work in the first week of August. The government recently signed a $45.90m-contract with ATOMSTROYEXPORT, a Russian consultancy firm, for the pre-construction work that involves 63 tests, 26 of which will be conducted by Bangladesh.
These include feasibility evaluation (FE), environment impact assessment (EIA), development and engineering survey, development of the comprehensive programme of engineering survey, anthropogenic conditions at the project area and site, engineering and hydro-meteorological survey, engineering and geodetic survey, seismological and seismic-tectonic studies, engineering and aero-meteorological survey, FE development, EIA development, pre-design works, engineering and geological survey and engineering survey, and environmental studies.
ROSATOM will build the plant, operate, provide fuel and take the waste away back to Russia regularly. The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) will be implementing the plant project and plans to recruit 1,660 people, including some 500 scientists and engineers.
The tenure of the plant will be 60 years and may be extended by another 20 years. Three million people live within a radius of 30km of the site.
The government says it is working as per the guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). An independent nuclear regulatory authority, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority, has been formed to work closely with ROSATOM and IAEA.
Bangladesh plans to produce 1000MW by June 2017 and another 1000MW of electricity by 2023. Power production from nuclear plants will be increased to 4000MW by 2030. The plan for setting up the country’s first-ever nuclear power plant was initiated in 1961.
The estimated cost of the proposed plant at Rooppur in Ishwardi upazila of Pabna district is set $1.5-2bn.
According to the “self-evaluation report” submitted by Bangladesh to the International Atomic Energy Agency in the middle of 2012, the two nuclear reactors will be of VVER-1000 design. This is a water-cooled and water-moderated reactor reportedly devised in the late 1970s.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on May 29 said: “We will never compromise on the issues of safety. During my discussion with President Vladimir Putin, I requested him to give us the safest and the latest reactors. He has given me his assurance in this regard. Russia has also agreed to remove the spent fuel in reactors and take the waste back to their country safely.”
TIMELINE OF AGREEMENTS
June 2007: IAEA allows Bangladesh to install nuclear power plant
September 18, 2008: Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) approves project to conduct the mandatory research
May 13, 2009: Bangladesh and Russia sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
May 21, 2009: Framework agreement signed between the countries
August 1, 2011: Cabinet approves cooperation agreement
October 31, 2011: Bangladesh government gives nod to security and legal framework development cooperation agreement
November 2, 2011: ROSATOM and Bangladesh government sign the cooperation agreement
January 16, 2013: The two governments sign agreement on Extension of State Export Credit for Financing the Preparatory Stage Work on the plant. Under the agreement, Bangladesh will get $0.5bn loan for research and developing technical abilities for the project
April 2, 2013: ECNEC approves Tk52.42bn (over $670m) for the first phase (1000MW) of the project, one-fourth of the amount will be provided by the Bangladesh government and the rest by Russian credit.
Pro-nuclear Arguments:
• Lower carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gas) emissions than fossil fuels;
• Relatively low operating costs;
• Known, developed technology “ready” for market;
• Large power-generating capacity, baseline power generator;
• Less land usage than wind and solar;
• Relatively inexpensive compared to other types of energy;
• One ton of natural uranium can produce same number of kilowatt hours as 16,000 tons of coal or 80,000 barrels of oil
Anti-nuclear Arguments:
• Safety fears – Three Mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986), Fukushima (2011);
• Worries about terrorist attacks by aircraft, boats or trucks;
• High construction costs (usually $ billions and 250% cost overruns not uncommon);
• Long construction time for plants;
• Radioactive waste lasts thousands of years, storage is expensive and controversial;
• Proliferation concerns – making weapons from stolen nuclear material;
• Plants uses large volume of water for heating and cooling;
• Pulls money away from investments in renewables;
Nuclear and the environment
• In May, scientists reported that level of CO2 in the atmosphere passed a long-feared milestone – above 400 parts per million for an entire day – a concentration not seen on the earth for 3 million years.
• Nuclear is currently the only carbon-free energy source that can provide base load electricity.
• Plants produce virtually no GHG emissions during operation and only very small amounts on a life cycle basis
– According to a NASA report, nuclear power prevented 64 gigatons of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases between 1971-2009. That’s 64 billion tons over 38 years, or almost 1.7 billion tons a year.
– Switching from nuclear to natural gas or to coal is almost guaranteed to worsen the climate problem
The cost of nuclear
• Construction is very expensive
• Usually overbudget and overschedule.
• Require big government subsidies and other forms of support
• Decommissioning a plant runs from millions to billions
NASA said despite major accidents, nuclear power prevented an average of over 1.8 million net deaths worldwide between 1971 and 2009.