Concreting of the inner containment dome of the reactor building has started at the unit- 2 of the under-construction Rooppur Nuclear Power plant.
As a result, the completion of the project is one more step closer, project officials said.
The construction work of the country's first nuclear power plant is going on in full swing at Rooppur in Pabna district, with the support of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom.
The work is being carried out by the TrestRosSEM, a branch of the Rosatom Engineering Division. More than 3,200 cubic meters of concrete will be required for the 17.6m high reinforced concrete structure with a base diameter of 42.8m.
“The final stage of building the infrastructure of the passive safety system has started. We will be able to optimize the concreting process by replicating the experience gained in performing similar work, in the reactor building at Power unit 1”, said Alexei Deriy, Vice President of ASE and Director of the Rooppur NPP construction project.
The inner containment is one of the key elements of the nuclear power plant safety system. It protects the reactor compartment and hosts the pipeline holes and the polar crane, used for serving the reactor.
Rooppur NPP will be equipped with two Russian VVER-1200 reactors with a total capacity of 2400 MW capacity. These generation III+ reactors fully comply with all international safety requirements. The Engineering Division of Rosatom State Corporation is implementing the Rooppur NPP as the General Contractor.
The total capacity of the plant is estimated at 2,400 MW. The government believes at least 1,200MW units of electricity from the first nuclear plant will be added to the national grid by 2023. The second with the same amount of power will be launched by 2024.
It is a top priority project on the Bangladesh government’s agenda. The progress of the works of the plant is closely monitored by the Prime Minister’s Office.
The main construction work of the power plant is continuing at Rooppur, while at the same time, essential machinery is being made in Russia. Some of the machinery has already reached Bangladesh, some shipped and others are still in the manufacturing process.
Officials said the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will bring about a comprehensive change in the country's economy, contributing more than two percent to GDP growth.
Once the nuke plant goes into operation, it will offer a window of opportunity, such as ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply to over 15 lakh families, and jobs for a large number of people.
On October 2 in 2013, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the first stone in the foundation of Rooppur NPP. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had approved the construction of the Rooppur NPP Project on 6 December 2016 at an estimated cost of Taka 1,13,092.91 crore.
