Setting the scope of obligations, liability and other terms and conditions of the nuclear station construction, the contract was made possible through joint, well-coordinated efforts between Rosatom’s professional team and the Bangladeshi officials, says ASE President Valery Limarenko. According to him, “this large, complex document was drafted and approved within a very short time to launch the construction of the first nuclear power plant in this multi-million country.”

Rosatom will design, construct and commission two 1,200 MW VVER-based units and the entire nuclear infrastructure. Prototypes of these reactors are now being built at Novovoronezh-2. The construction site is located on the eastern bank of the Ganges, at Ruppur. The EPC contract was drafted in accordance with the intergovernmental cooperation agreement signed in 2011.

Fact sheet

2010 – The national governments sign an agreement on peaceful uses of nuclear power

2011 – The two countries sign an agreement for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh

2013 – Russia approves a loan to finance the preliminary construction phase of the Ruppur project

Staff training

In September 2014, ten Bengali students came to Russia to study at the National Nuclear Research University (MEPhI). They finished a pre-university course earlier this year and were enrolled in the full-fledged university training program majoring in Nuclear Station Design, Operation and Engineering in September 2015. In the spring of 2015, 171 Bangladeshi students took a test, with 20 of them to be selected to continue their education in Russia in 2015–2020.

Public acceptance

A nuclear information center was opened in Dhakka in October 2013. In 2014, it was visited by more than 17,000 students. A book entitled Questions and Answer about Nuclear Power was published in February 2015 to address the local community.