Dhaka-Moscow nuke power deal today
The government is going to ink a landmark deal with Russia today to finalise arrangements for installing the country's first-ever nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna.
The deal comes nearly two years after Dhaka signed a crucial framework agreement with Moscow on Russian cooperation to install the 2,000 megawatt nuclear plant by 2017-18 at a cost of around $1.5 to $2 billion.
Yeafesh Osman, state minister for science and information and communication technology, and Sergey Kirienko, director general of State Atomic Energy Corporation of Russia (Rosatom), will sign the agreement on behalf of their respective governments.
“This is a landmark event for us . . . this will greatly help us to meet our energy demand. We need energy to build our desired Digital Bangladesh,” Osman told BSS.
It would be the final government-to-government deal, he added.
The two countries prepared the groundwork earlier inking a primary deal in February this year.
Officials familiar with the process said after today's agreement, Rosatom and Bangladesh's Atomic Energy Commission would need to work out the issues of costing and equipment procurement under two subsequent deals.
Dhaka-Moscow 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”, they said.
International Atomic Energy Association allowed Bangladesh to install nuclear power plants in 2007 along with seven other developing nations.
Later, Russia, France, South Korea, China and Pakistan expressed their interests to install the power plant.
Comments