Russia to take back radioactive waste of Rooppur power plant

Russia has agreed to remove the spent fuel from reactors and take back highly radioactive rods at the end of their life-cycle from Rooppur nuclear power plant.

Bangladesh and Russia approved a draft of the agreement on spent fuel management of the project on March 15 in Dhaka after a bilateral meeting, an additional secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology conveyed the Dhaka Tribune.

In this context, spent fuel management means removal, disposal and storage of radioactive rods that contain radioactive wastes, which require special treatment for protecting human health and minimising hazardous impacts on the environment.

According to the draft, Russia will take back the spent fuel from Bangladesh territory for reprocessing, recycling and management from Rooppur nuclear power plant.

The Russian delegation team will place the draft of the inter-governmental agreement (IGA) at their parliament for the go ahead, whereas, the Bangladeshi counterpart will place it to a cabinet body for approval.

Both parties will sign the IGA after approval of their respective governments.

[caption id="attachment_53217" align="aligncenter" width="800"] The monitoring tower at the Rooppur nuclear power plant construction site Collected[/caption]

Bangladesh had signed a contract with Russia on December 25, 2015 for the construction and commissioning of a nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna at the cost of $12.65 billion.

The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), under the Ministry of Science and Technology, is in charge of implementing the project.

The nuclear power plant is expected to add 2,400MW of electricity to the national grid by 2023.

The Russian delegation comprised of Nikolay Spassky, deputy chief executive officer of State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM, Alexey Ferapontov, deputy head of the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia (Rostekhnadzor).

Science and Technology Minister Yeafesh Osman led the Bangladesh delegation as both sides agreed to prepare the final documents for formal signing as soon as possible.

Alexander Ignatov, Russian ambassador to Bangladesh also joined the discussions.

A top science and technology ministry official said Uranium-235 would be used as the reactor fuel at the plant.

The Russian delegation also visited the Rooppur NPP construction site and joined a working meeting.

Chairman of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA) Naiyyum Choudhury, Chairman of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) Engr Md Monzurul Haque, Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant’s Project Director Mohammad Shawkat Akbar and representatives of JSC Atomstroyexport, the main contractor for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Project also took part in the meeting.