The shipment of nuclear fuel for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP), which was originally scheduled to land in Bangladesh on Friday afternoon, has been rescheduled to arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka around 11:30 PM on Friday. The fuel will subsequently be transported to the plant site in Rooppur, Pabna, under heavy security on Saturday.
Minister of Science and Technology Fakir Mahbub Anam confirmed the updated arrival schedule to the media, adding that all necessary preparations have been completed.
According to relevant sources, if everything proceeds as planned, the nuclear fuel will arrive from Russia aboard a special cargo aircraft late Friday night. It will then be moved to the Rooppur plant under strict security protocols on Saturday.
Although the fuel was initially set to arrive on Thursday, the shipment was deferred to Friday afternoon before experiencing this final schedule shift. Sources confirmed that there are no remaining logistical or technical issues concerning the transport.
Multiple officials stated that the shipment comprises nine cargo loads in total—seven for the plant's second unit and two for the refueling process of the first unit. Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom assured that the complete fuel delivery will be finalized by December.
While nuclear fuel has already been loaded into Rooppur's first unit, roughly a quarter of its fuel assemblies must be replaced after 18 months of operation, necessitating this advance procurement. Under the bilateral agreement, Russia will supply the nuclear fuel for the first three years, after which Bangladesh will import necessary replacements at scheduled intervals.
Ministry of Science and Technology sources emphasized that the highly sensitive material is being airlifted under stringent security measures. The planned flight route for the special cargo aircraft passes through Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India before entering Bangladeshi airspace.
The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant features two units with a combined generation capacity of 2,400 MW. Although fuel loading for the first unit is complete, commercial power generation was delayed due to technical issues, including a faulty safety valve. A senior official from the Nuclear Power Plant Company Bangladesh Limited (NPCBL) confirmed that repair work on the safety valve was successfully completed on Wednesday. However, several critical tests remain to be conducted before the first unit can feed power into the national grid. Meanwhile, construction and commissioning for the second unit are moving forward concurrently.
— Daily Best News Desk • Fearless in the search for truth
Reported by M S Rahman, Pabna Special Correspondent • Edited by the Daily Best News desk. Send corrections to [email protected].
