Fuel loading at unit 1 of the Rooppur NPP in Bangladesh has been delayed pending clearance from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA), missing the previously scheduled 7 April timeline set by the Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST).
The Rooppur plant is being built by Rosatom on the eastern bank of the Ganges River in the Pabna district of Bangladesh, about 160 km northwest of Dhaka. It will comprise two VVER-1200 reactors. In November 2011, Russia and Bangladesh signed an inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in the construction of the NPP, and in mid-December 2015 a general contract was signed. Construction of unit 1 began in November 2017 and unit 2 in July 2018. The plant’s design life is 60 years, with the possibility of extending its operating life for another 20 years. Fresh fuel for the units was delivered to the site in the latter part of 2023.
“Although we were preparing to launch fuel loading at unit 1 on 7 April, the commissioning licence was not cleared in time; therefore, it is not possible to begin according to the original schedule,” MOST Secretary Anwar Hossain told The Daily Star. He added that it was not possible to confirm a revised date at this stage, as BAERA is still reviewing the required documents. “Fuel loading depends entirely on the regulatory authority’s clearance. The schedule will be confirmed once the licence is issued,” he noted.
MOST had specified the 7 April date after Rosatom officially notified the government of the timeline. According to that schedule, the plant was expected to begin electricity production and supply at least 300 MWe by July this year, reaching its full capacity of 1,200 MWe by December.
Project officials said fuel loading takes about a month, followed by roughly two months to reach the criticality. It would take at least 10-11 months from the start of fuel loading to full power generation. Officials from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) said they expect to begin fuel loading by the end of April.
“The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant has completed all construction work and necessary tests at Unit-1. The entire process was largely finalised last month,” said Soikat Ahmed, focal point officer (media) for the plant.
A high-ranking BAEC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star that the NPP has encountered multiple challenges as it moves towards commissioning. “The regulatory authority is an independent body; they will only approve the commissioning licence once they are 100% satisfied with the safety protocols,” he said.
Dr Mahabubur Rahman, project director of Nuclear Regulatory Infrastructure at BAERA, which is responsible for licence approval, declined to speak to The Daily Star, saying he was at the Rooppur site working on the review.
Unit 1 is in the final stages of commissioning, while unit 2 is over 70% complete. Since construction began in 2017, about 81% of the $12.65bn project budget has been spent. The project was originally slated for completion in 2022 and has already faced a three-year delay. In 2025, Bangladesh and Russia agreed to extend the timeline to late 2027 to complete both units.
Meanwhile, one of the key stages of preparation for physical start-up has been completed at unit 1 – boron flushing of pipelines of the primary circuit. The work was completed in record time of 81 hours, according to the plant’s Telegram channel. Boron washes are an important technological stage preceding the loading of nuclear fuel into the reactor core and the subsequent physical start-up of the power unit.
Achieving this result was made possible thanks to the high level of organisation of production processes, as well as the coordinated and professional work of specialists involved in the implementation of the project, the plant said. Previously, a set of works was carried out at the unit to inspect the equipment, including opening and inspection of the main technological components, monitoring the condition of the metal of the reactor vessel, steam generators and pipelines, as well as checking safety systems. In addition, dummy fuel assemblies were unloaded, and in-hull devices and control systems were diagnosed.
At the same time workers have moved on to the final stage of equipping cooling towers. Specialists are installing internal elements that are responsible for heat transfer, according to www1.ru, a Russian media portal focused on technology, science, and industry. The design includes special plastic blocks called sprinklers and curved panels that act as drop catchers, which are critical to the operation of the cooling system.
The system’s operating technology is based on process physics. Irrigators distribute water from the cooling circuit as evenly as possible. Passing through plastic blocks, the flow breaks into thin jets and small droplets. This significantly increases the contact area of the liquid with the air, which ensures fast and efficient cooling. Drop eliminators, in turn, prevent the removal of moisture into the atmosphere, saving station resources.
To complete each cooling tower, engineers will install about 84,000 plastic blocks. The total volume of filler in each tower exceeds 21,000 cubic metres.
Currently, builders have reported completion of the installation of filler in three of the four cooling towers. After installing the internal elements, the tightness will be checked, and the equipment will be started. Successful completion of this work will allow the station to reach its design targets for heat removal from turbines.
