DREAMING NUCLEAR M ABUL KALAM AZAD The declining reserves of fossil fuels and their detrimental effects on the environment has thrust nuclear power into the limelight as a promising option to energy-starved economies around the world. According to statistics from the Power Development Board, only half of the country’s 15 crore population have access to electricity. It produces on an average 5,000MW of electricity a day, with a deficit of about 1,000MW. So why have we not gone nuclear? It was back in 1961 the then Pakistan government had initiated a move, acquiring 292 acres land in Rooppur of Pabna district, to set up a nuclear power plant to meet the increasing demand for energy in the then East Pakistan. Nearly 52 years have gone by and it still looks like a faraway dream. Until recent times in fact, there has been no real attempt by any of the successive regimes to make it a reality. Bangladesh has been negotiating with nuclear-capable countries like France, China, Russia, South Korea and the United States in quest for commissioning the first-ever nuclear power plant. But it was the last caretaker government that, in 2008, took the process a step forward with Russia, which was very keen amongst the nations, to assist Bangladesh. Things started moving fast and in the right direction within five months of the present government assuming power in January 2009. Bangladesh and Russia inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in May that year, acknowledging the peaceful use of nuclear energy and exchange of nuclear technologies and the setting up of a nuke plant in Bangladesh. Since then remarkable progress has been made. The two countries signed several MoUs and deals under which the Russian state nuclear corporation, Rosatom has agreed to provide both financial and technical support. The $500 million loan agreement in January was the most significant one. Moscow is providing the money for completion of pre-construction activities, including development of the Rooppur site, conducting studies and preparing the design for a 1000-megawatt plant. The nuclear-capable nation has also pledged to provide loan to meet construction costs of the nuclear plant, which ranges from $1.5 billion to $2 billion. The government has already promulgated a law and formed an independent regulatory body –two of the 19 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) requirements for building a nuke plant. It informed Dhaka about the general guidelines concerning the financier and ownership of the proposed plant, its safety measures and legal framework. The two countries signed several MoUs and deals under which the Russian state nuclear corporation, Rosatom has agreed to provide both financial and technical support. Photo: bss/kallol According to the deals Dhaka and Moscow signed so far, Russia will help Bangladesh in fulfilling the requirements and building capacity by training Bangladeshi engineers and other technical persons for creating necessary workforce to operate the plant. The trainees will work in Russian plants for two years before their assignment in Bangladesh. The Rooppur project aims at minimizing the huge gap between demand and supply of electricity through generation of nuclear power within the shortest possible time. While Bangladesh moves forward to materialize its long-cherished dream, the safety and security issues are bound to come the forefront, especially after the latest disaster in nuclear plants in Fukushima, Japan. Experts and citizens are concerned about the potential risk and disaster of a nuke plant to be set up in a densely-populated country like Bangladesh. The government ministers and officials, however, are very confident about the safety measures. They argue that the Fukushima plant was made using old technology while the present day nuke plants are designed with far more advanced technology where the chance of disaster or radiation leakage is nearly zero due to two-tier protection system. “The planned nuclear plant will be built with modern technology, and there will be no chance of radiation leakage as in Japan’s Fukoshima. Rather, Russia will supply the required fuel and will also take spent fuel back,” claimed State Minister for Science and Technology Yeafesh Osman. For the Rooppur plant, Rosatom will employ a new design model, with a new safety system being used in Russia and abroad. It will have a double protection system which can survive the fall of a heavy aircraft on it. It will have basic cooling systems that can allow heat to be diverted. All these issues came up in discussion at a two-day international seminar in Dhaka recently. Nuclear experts from Rosatom, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), officials of science and technology ministry and Dhaka University teachers took part in the discussion. Bangladesh, however, has a long way to go as far as this project goes. As suggested by IAEA, the government has to fulfill several more requirements, involve various stakeholders and conduct a nationwide campaign so that people are well aware of the project and its risk factors. Rosatom’s atomic energy specialist Yuri Sokolov, who led Russian delegation at the seminar, says Bangladesh would start operation of the first-ever plant in seven years if the country could meet all the requirements. He suggests that the government should form a national nuclear power programme, and develop skilled manpower, management system and relevant laws to pave the way for building the plant. As planned by the government and Rosatom, construction of the nuke plant is supposed to begin in 2016 and be completed in five years. Bangladesh has a plan to go for another nuclear power plant of 1000-MW as the country’s energy demand would increase significantly before the first plant goes into operation, hopefully in 2021.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:13:19 +0000