Govt to set up 600-1,000MW power plant

Dhaka: The government has decided to submit a work plan to the International Atomic Energy Agency by mid-October for setting up a 600-1000MW nuclear power plant at Rooppur aiming to generate electricity by 2015.


‘After submission of our work plan to IAEA by October 15 for technical assistance to set up a 600-1000MW nuclear power plant, a delegation of the atomic energy watchdog will visit Bangladesh between December and January,’ Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission chairman Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan told a news briefing at the energy division on Sunday after attending a five-day IAEA conference in Vienna in Austria.


Our aim is to bring the power plant into production by 2015,’ he said adding that the total investment in setting up such a plant would be around $1-1.5 billion.
Power, energy, science and ICT adviser Tapan Chowdhury, who led a Bangladesh delegation in Vienna last week, held talks with the delegations of China, India and Pakistan on setting up nuclear power plant and got ‘positive’ responses from the countries.


The Russian delegation told Shafiqul that they wanted to send a team to Dhaka in mid-October to hold talks on setting up nuclear power plant.


Tapan also held several meetings with IAEA high ups including its director general Mohamed Al Mohamed El Baradi seeking technical assistance from the IAEA for setting up the plant.


Tapan told reporters that after submission of the work plan, the IAEA delegation will visit Bangladesh to examine the preparation of the country and issues regarding to security and safety measures so that it could provide technical support to set up the plant.


During the meeting with El Baradi, Tapan said the IAEA chief wanted to know whether Bangladesh was really serious about setting up nuclear power plant as the country has been saying it will set up nuclear power plant for last 20 years without taking any serious efforts.


‘I have told him that we are serious as we need alternative energy sources for power generation as our main source, gas reserve, is depleting fast,’ Tapan said.


Tapan said it would need around 7-8 years to implement a nuclear power project and that they wanted to start the process.


When asked whether any state-to-state deal would be signed with any country for setting up the nuclear power plant, Tapan said, ‘No decision has been taken yet in this regard as there are many conditions like ensuring safety measure and security that have to be fulfilled before we start implementing a nuclear power project.


Shafiqul told reporters that there was hardly any chance of any accident like Chernobyl in nuclear power plants at present days because of advancement of technology.


Tapan told the press conference that the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, appreciated the efforts of power officials for generating record high electricity of around 4100MW last week


The chief adviser invited Tapan and other power officials including secretary M Fouzul Kabir Khan and Power Development Board chairman Khijir Khan and expressed his appreciation for their success.


The power production came down to 3646MW Sunday night.


Fouzul told reporters that the electricity generation would not sustain at 4100-4000MW as many power units were 30-40-year old and could trip anytime. ‘Our target is to keep the power production between 3600-3900MW in the coming days. In near future, the band of production will be 3800-4300MW he said.