Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the main building phase of the country’s first nuclear plant on Thursday by pouring concrete at the construction site at Rooppur in Ishwardi, Pabna. The long-awaited Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) is expected to add 2,400MW of electricity to the national grid by 2024, helping Bangladesh meet its increasing demand for electricity. Plans for the RNPP date back to November 2011, when Bangladesh signed an agreement with Rosatom to construct the nuclear plant. Under the deal, Russia agreed to provide all assistance for running the plant, including providing the fuel and taking back the radioactive waste for reprocessing. In October of that year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone after 262 acres of land had been acquired to set up two units of the plant.

Source: Dhaka Tribune November 30, 2017 06:56 UTC