Dhaka, Moscow ink nuke power deal

State Minister for Science Yeafesh Osman and Russia’s Atomic Energy Corporation chief Sergey Kirienko signed a nuclear power deal on behalf of their governments at Prime Minister’s Office in presence of Premier Sheikh Hasina Wednesday. Photo: PID 

The government signed a landmark deal with Russia on Wednesday to finalise arrangements for installing two nuclear power plants at Rooppur in Pabna.
The estimated cost of the first-ever nuclear plant of the country however was not disclosed.
The deal was inked around 11:30am at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in the capital.
Yeafesh Osman, state minister for science and information and communication technology, and Sergey Kirienko, director general of State Atomic Energy Corporation of Russia (Rosatom), signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments.
The information came at a joint press briefing at Bangabandhu Novo Theatre auditorium in the city.
According to Sergey Kirienko of the Rosatom, such types of projects usually take nearly five years to complete but with respect to this one, it will take a few more years as the feasibility study is yet to be completed.
“We will employ all safety measures in the plant design to avoid accidents that took place at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan when a strong earthquake hit the country recently,” the Rosatom director general said.
“The most important part of the deal is that the spent fuel (used fuel that becomes radioactive) will be taken back to Russia for reprocessing,” he added.
In reply to a query, Yeafesh Osman expressed hope that the construction work of the project will begin within the tenure of the current government.

The deal comes nearly two years after Dhaka signed a crucial framework agreement with Moscow on Russian cooperation to install the two power plants with 1,000 megawatt each.
The two countries prepared the groundwork earlier, inking a primary deal in February this year.
Officials familiar with the process said the cooperation under the agreement would include, “design, construction and operation of nuclear power and research reactors; nuclear fuel supply, taking back the spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste management.”