28 September: The shipment of uranium fuel for the second unit of Bangladesh’s Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant has been delayed after the cargo aircraft carrying the nuclear fuel failed to secure the necessary airspace clearance.
The shipment was scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on Thursday, 24 September. However, the aircraft could not reach the country as planned because permission to use the required airspace was not granted.
Bangladesh’s Science and Technology Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam told ANI by phone that the cargo aircraft carrying the uranium was scheduled to arrive on 24 September but was unable to make the journey on time because of the lack of airspace clearance. The reason for the denial of permission remains unclear.
Russia has proposed a new delivery date in the first week of October, according to the minister.
Sheikh Mohammad Towhidul Islam, joint secretary at the Ministry of Science and Technology, told ANI that all preparations at the airport had been completed. However, a Rosatom liaison official informed Bangladeshi authorities that the relevant airspace was unavailable, requiring the delivery schedule to be rearranged.
Bangladesh has not been able to identify which country or authority prevented the use of the airspace.
Russia is now preparing an alternative route to transport the nuclear fuel to Bangladesh after failing to obtain the required clearance for the original flight. ANI said it contacted Rosatom by email seeking details, but the Russian state nuclear corporation had not responded.
Located on the banks of the Padma River in Pakshi Union of Ishwardi upazila in Pabna, the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant is Bangladesh’s first nuclear power facility. The project is being built with technical assistance from Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom and under the supervision of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission.
The plant consists of two Generation III+ VVER-1200 reactors, with a combined electricity generation capacity of 2,400 megawatts.
In October 2023, 164 fresh fuel assemblies containing enriched uranium for the first reactor were flown directly to Dhaka by cargo aircraft from Rosatom’s Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant in Russia.
The nuclear fuel was subsequently transported to the project site in Ishwardi, Pabna, through a secured green corridor under tight security provided by the military and law-enforcement agencies, where it was formally handed over to the authorities.
Source: ANI