The second shipment of Uranium for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) arrived at Dhaka today (Thursday) from Russia, just a week after the arrival of the first consignment on September 28.
Officials concerned of the Ministry of Science and Technology said, a special flight carrying the second shipment of Uranium from Russia arrived at Dhaka Shahjalal International Airport at around 12:00pm.
“The Uranium will be shifted RNPP site by road with the highest security as usually”, an official said.
Earlier, the first shipment of uranium arrived in Bangladesh on 28 September.
This uranium is being officially handed over to the RNPP authorities on today (Thursday) afternoon by the director general of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) Alexei Likhachev.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to join in the handover ceremony virtually.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi will also join the event virtually.
Officials concerned said, five more consignments of uranium will arrive in the country in phases. After the first seven shipments, nuclear fuel will continue to arrive in phases. Each shipment will contain 12 bundles. Each bundle weighs 7.5 kilogrammes.
Rooppur power station has been upgraded to a nuclear facility.
The two units of the RNPP have a production capacity of 1200 MW per unit. Project Director Shaukat Akbar said that 90% of the work of the first unit has been completed. The progress of the second unit is 70%, he added.
He said that the first unit will be fully ready for fuel installation by next April. Uranium fuel will be installed once the transmission line is completed.
The project director also said that trial production will begin in September next year.
In the first phase, 20% electricity will be produced. After the success of the first phase, 50 %and 70% will be phased and the final phase will go into full production. It usually takes 10 months to go through these stages. Commercial production will begin in early 2025.