The information center was opened in Ishwardi Upazila, Pabna District, Bangladesh. The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), local administration, Yuri Koshelev, AtomStroyExport’s Chief Engineer in Bangladesh, and Andrei Shevlyakov, Vice-President of Rosatom South Asia.
The new reception center located in the vicinity of the nuclear plant is one of the most effective communication channels between local residents and representatives of Rosatom and BAEC. Visitors will have an opportunity to find out more about comprehensive nuclear solutions, unparalleled safety systems of Russian Generation III+ power units, and the construction progress at Rooppur.
“We all know that Bangladesh is making towards nuclear generation, and the Rooppur nuclear power plant is engineered to ultimately ease power shortage. But a nuclear plant is more than just a power source. It offers new jobs, new knowledge, industrial development, and scientific progress. Here in the center, we welcome public authorities, non-governmental organizations, mass media, teachers of vocational and higher education institutions and, of course, students who tomorrow might want to become nuclear plant operators or even nuclear construction engineers,” said Alexander Khazin, ASE Senior Vice President for Foreign Projects.
“Nuclear safety is Rosatom’s primary concern. Then, we are also concerned with improvement of the public attitude towards nuclear power. Our approach to public awareness is based on an open dialog with every stakeholder, including industry experts, students, journalists and authorities. We make no exception and this is what makes us different,” added Andrei Shevlyakov, Vice-President of Rosatom South Asia.
As you know, the first concrete was poured for the basement of Unit 1 on the plant’s site in late November. This marked the beginning of a construction process that will result in the country’s first power generation facility with a service life of no less than a century. The first concrete pouring ceremony took place less than a month after the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) obtained a construction license for the country’s first nuclear power plant. The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will have the latest Generation 3+ units with VVER-1200 reactors. The world’s first reactor of this class was brought online earlier this year at Novovoronezh II in Russia. It is an evolution of Generation 3+ reactors and is fully compliant with international safety standards. In 2017, the new unit of Novovoronezh II was named the world’s Top 3 nuclear reactor unit by the POWER Magazine (USA).
The Rooppur project is based on the defense-in-depth concept, which is fundamental for the plant’s overall safety. This concept provides for multiple defense levels and mitigation of accidents and human error, thus securing environmental safety.
