Russia Builds First Nuclear Plant in Bangladesh

Russia has agreed to build Bangladesh's first nuclear power plant under an intergovernmental cooperation agreement signed this week in Dhaka.

Under the agreement, Rosatom's AtomStroyExport will construct two 1000-megawatt reactors at Rooppur approximately 200 kilometers from the capital city of Dhaka. Russia will also supply fuel for the new plant, according to a report from World Nuclear News.

Rooppur will be built with a double containment design, a passive heat removal system and hydrogen recombiners to meet post-Fukushima safety standards. “"The power plant will remain safe even if a massive earthquake and tsunami simultaneously take place or any aircraft weighing 4,000 tons crashes on it," Sergey Kirienko, director general of Rosatom, told reporters.

Construction is scheduled to begin by 2013 and will be completed five years later.

Photo courtesy of the Bangladesh Ministry of Science, Information and Communication Technologies.