Second Batch of Nuclear Fuel for Bangladesh's Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Arrives at Shahjalal International Airport

Bangladesh's first nuclear power plant construction recently reached a key milestone, as a Russian cargo plane carrying a new batch of enriched uranium nuclear fuel landed smoothly late Friday night at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Officials confirmed that the nuclear fuel, under tight security escort, has departed for transport to the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) project site in the Pabna region.

M. Rashiduzzaman Millat, State Minister of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism of Bangladesh, confirmed the flight's arrival to the media. He stated that the national police and various security agencies had formulated and implemented a rigorous full-process defense plan to ensure absolute security at every stage of the overland transport of special fissionable material. This is the second batch of commercial nuclear fuel received by Bangladesh, following the first batch delivered in 2023. Previously, due to the country's domestic political turmoil and the complex international geopolitical environment, the project's construction pace had been somewhat affected.

According to officials familiar with the matter, the nuclear fuel was originally scheduled to depart by air from Russia on Thursday, but due to cross-border logistics route scheduling and the failure to obtain Pakistan's airspace overflight permission as scheduled, the delivery was ultimately slightly delayed. Rosatom, the general contractor, has clearly stated that all nuclear fuel loading assemblies required for the commissioning of the dual units at the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will be delivered to the site in batches before December of this year.

The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant is planned to build two advanced Russian VVER-1200 Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) units, with a total installed capacity of 2,400 Megawatts (MW). As key fuel materials are gradually put in place, the project is accelerating its sprint toward the goal of completing fuel loading within the year and achieving the first unit's official power supply to the national grid.

The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project is located approximately 160 kilometers west of Dhaka and is the largest basic energy infrastructure project in Bangladesh's history. The project is mainly advanced under the intergovernmental cooperation framework signed by Bangladesh and Russia in 2015, with an overall investment budget of approximately 12.65 billion US dollars, the vast majority of which comes from sovereign concessional loan support provided by the Russian government.