A group of Bangladeshi expert and media representatives have visited a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Russia as a familiarisation tour for the under-construction Rooppur NPP in Pabna.
State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM recently arranged the tour to the Unit- 6 of Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant in Russia which is considered to be the reference plant of the Rooppur NPP.
The team visited reactor building, turbine building, central control room, training centre, cooling tower of the NPP which is the world’s first nuclear power plant with Generation 3+ VVER 1200 reactor.
The team were briefed on its technological, functional, management and safety aspects, says a media release.
The team comprised Dr. Shafiqul Islam, Chairman, Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Dhaka, and Syed Ishtiaque Reza, senior journalist and Editor-in-Chief of GTV.
"The visit has helped me to gain more confidence in the technology that has been chosen for our maiden nuclear power facility," Dr Islam said.
"I will share the experience with my students and other people to assure them that the under construction Rooppur project is going to be completely safe and secured,” he added.
Syed Ishtiaque Reza said, “Visiting Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant was an electrifying experience for me. The plant featuring six units is role model for global nuclear industry.”
“We have seen how the small city is continuing the legacy of Russian innovation in nuclear power generation,” he said.
Mr Reza said, “High level safety and security culture, maintained at the plant from the beginning to end was a great lesson for us as we are implementing a similar project in our country.”
Rooppur Nuclear Power Project will have two units, each of 1,200 MW capacity, said the release.
The first unit of the plant is scheduled to be commissioned in 2023 and the second unit in 2024. Both the units will be based on VVER-1,200 reactor.
