The Science and Technology Ministry has sought Tk24cr to have the assessment of design and construction of the proposed Rooppur nuclear power plant done by a Russian firm for July to December period.
The ministry forwarded the proposal on be half of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Control Authority (BAECA) to Finance Division as the country lone Control Authority of Atomic Energy usual provide the licenses of the Environment impact of nuclear related plant.
Officials of Finance Division told Dhaka Tribune it would not be not possible to give $3 million or Tk24cr to BAECA for preliminary licensing the Rooppur power plant to asses environment impact of plant and safety measures.
The environment licensing is not incorporated into the total project cost of Rooppur power plant so BAECA arrange it own funds, Official also said.
As part of the inspection of construction of Rooppur power plant BAECA gave inspection license to Rooppur power planr authority on July 21 with help of Russian Federation company Rostechnadzor.
Sources in BAECA said the Authority has funds of more than Tk30cr which deposits in a bank for giving licence of various local and foreign companies including a Malaysia firm.
According to the proposal, BAECA has no expertise or human resource to deal with the matter. As a result the authority has hired consultants and expertise from Russian Federation Rostechnadzor company’s subsidy firm TSO CO Safety. Russian firm TSO CO Safety is now conducting review assessment of license documents for design and construction of Rooppur nuclear power plant for the July-December period.
A total of $3 million will be required for the payment of Russian federation firm FSUE VO ‘Safety’ for 2016 for service related to assistance to BAECA for construction of Rooppur power plant which includes the required safety measures of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Nuclear power plant expert Dr Abdul Motin told Dhaka Tribune the Russian firm could not be accountable in its inspection. The state-owned firm was likely to favour the state-owned firm contracted for building the plant, he pointed out.
“IAEA manual directive is that only an independent firm can assess safety measures and impact of environment for a nuclear power plant,” he said.
Science and Technology Minister Yeafesh Osman said: “Because we are moving into the nuclear age, we have borrowed the expertise and technology of the Russian state-run firm.”
Bangladesh signed an $11.38bn loan agreement with Russia on July 26 in Moscow to build a 2,400MW nuclear power plant of two units in Rooppur in northern district of Pabna.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
