Experts plans nuclear power plant in Dhaka

Dhaka: Energy experts, academics, business leaders and policymakers suggested immediate installation of a nuclear power plant as the country was facing huge shortage of primary energy like gas to produce electricity.

At a dialogue in Dhaka, they also urged all stakeholders to end the debate over coal issue as its extraction was essential for the country, especially for electricity generation.

‘As we have lower per capita energy consumption and quite a huge energy shortage, we will not be able to solve the problems with traditional means of energy.

We have to go for some extraordinary means like nuclear power plant,’ Debapriya Bhattacharya, Bangladesh’s resident representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the dialogue.

The Centre for Policy Dialogue and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry organised the dialogue on ‘Energy for Development: Options and Strategies for Bangladesh’ at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre.

Special assistant to the chief adviser M Tamim chaired the programme moderated by economist Rehman Sobhan and presided over by CPD executive director Mustafizur Rahman.

M Asaduzzaman, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, in his keynote paper highlighted the shortage of gas and electricity in the country and proposed for discussion and debate on nuclear power plant for the installation of power reactor.

Debapriya, also Bangladesh’s ambassador and permanent representative to the World Trade Organisation, said there was every possibility to set up two 1,000MW nuclear power units at Ruppur, where the then government had acquired land in 1963 to install such a plant.

He said physical and regulatory infrastructure should have to be established for the installation of such a plant. ‘I propose that an independent nuclear power regulatory body can be set up,’ Debapriya, also a former executive director of CPD, told the dialogue.

On technical and financing issues, he said that many countries, including USA, France, Russia, China and Korea, supplied nuclear reactor. ‘On financing, we can go for a bilateral state-to-state deal for installation of such plan or we can go for open tenders. For the first nuclear power plant many countries go for state-to-state cooperation,’ he said.

He said it would take around 10 years to bring the power plant into operation if the government started the initiative now. ‘If we do not take initiative today to set up the plant we will face problem tomorrow,’ he said urging all to refrain from going against the issue by creating national debate like those about the production sharing contracts for gas and coal.

Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission chairman Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan said he felt sorry that Bangladesh was still debating over the nuclear power plant.

‘Asia is now leading in setting up nuclear power plants. With UN bodies, we have signed treaties like Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and CTBT for use of electricity from nuclear power plant and the IAEA is ready to support us,’ he said.

Shafiqul said they were now working on human resources development for the installation of a nuclear power plant. ‘The Ruppur site is ready. We are ready to install 1000MW nuclear power plant if we get the go-ahead signal.’

Professor Hossain Mansur of the Dhaka University, however, observed that the government should immediately go for vigorous exploration of gas in gas fields as it would take around 10 years to develop nuclear power plant while the country was facing energy shortage at present.

Supporting installation of nuclear power plant, FBCCI president Annisul Huq wanted to know from the government whether they could run their industries and whether they could go for new investment.
‘Do we have to go back to the prehistoric era and stop all economic activities because of shortage of energy?’ he asked.

Annisul wanted an end to the debate over coalmining issue and