The authorities have again failed to transfer fuel into the reactor at Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant on April 7 due to what some officials say is the lack of approval from Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority.
On 12 March, after a meeting with Russian Ambassador to Bangladesh Alexander Grigoryevich Khozin, Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said fuel loading at Unit-1 of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant would begin on 7 April.
The Nuclear Power Plant Company Bangladesh Limited later issued an office order which also mentioned the date.
Contacted, Kabir Hossain, director of the power plant project, acknowledged that the fuel loading did not happen, but declined to provide details.
Officials, requesting anonymity, say the plant could begin generating at least 300MW by July and 1,200MW by December had fuel loading been done on 7 April.
The power plant project supported by Russia remains Bangladesh’s largest energy infrastructure initiative to date. Construction of Unit-1 has been completed, while Unit-2 is still under development.
One of the most critical technical steps of the project is loading nuclear fuel, or uranium, into the reactor.
The date for fuel loading has been changed at least four times. Initially, the goal was to load fuel by the end of February. Officials later set dates twice last month but failed on both occasions.
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