Bangladesh will begin loading uranium fuel into its first nuclear power station on Tuesday (Apr 28), a key step towards bringing the 2,400 megawatt plant online to ease pressure on the overstretched power grid.

When operating, it could meet up to 10 per cent of the power demands of the South Asian nation of 170 million people, according to the government.

Construction began on the US$11 billion Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in 2017, with initial power generation of around 300 MW hoped to come online by August, before full production in late 2027.

“A controlled nuclear fission chain reaction will be initiated in the reactor core, once fuel loading is completed,” Saikat Ahmed, the plant’s senior scientific information officer, told AFP. “This marks the start of the physical start-up phase.”

The grid in Bangladesh is stretched every year during the summer heat, when people crank up power-hungry air conditioners.

But restrictions have been made worse after an energy crunch due to the Middle East war.

Bangladesh imports 95 per cent of its oil and gas, much of it from the Middle East, where energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have been disrupted since war began in late February.

Science and Technology Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam, speaking earlier this month, said it was hoped the plant would supply around 300 megawatts of electricity to the grid by August.

But the process requires a slow process of testing at each stage.

“This is a complex and sensitive phase, and every aspect of safety and security will be further evaluated before full-scale production,” said Shafiqul Islam, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Dhaka.

Source: AFP
-- Agencies