Work has begun on the installation of steam generators at unit 2 of the Rooppur NPP under construction in Bangladesh, general contractor JSC ASE (the Engineering Division of Rosatom) has announced. “The installation of steam generators is one of the key events in the construction of a nuclear power unit. This operation was preceded by a lot of work to ensure the construction readiness of the reactor building,” said Alexei Deriy, Vice President of JSC ASE, Director of the Rooppur NPP construction project. All four steam generators for unit 2 are planned to be installed by the end of October, he added, specifying that further work on the installation of the main circulation pipelines, the main pipelines of the primary circuit, will then begin. The steam generator weighing 324.7 tons and 13.8 m long was lifted onto the transport portal using a Liebherr LR 11350 crane with a lifting capacity of 1350 tons.
The Rooppur plant is being built by Rosatom on the eastern bank of the Ganges River in Bangladesh’s Pabna district about 160 km northwest of the capital city of Dhaka. It will comprise two VVER-1200 reactors. In November 2011, Russia and Bangladesh signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the construction of the NPP and in mid-December 2015, a general contract was signed.
In early 2017, the Russian government provided Bangladesh with a state loan of $11.38 billion to finance the main stage of the NPP construction, which began in 2021. Reports earlier in October of delays to the project have not been confirmed by Rosatom.
Image: Installation of steam generators under way at Rooppur unit 2 (courtesy of Rosatom)
