Ishwardi,14 July, 2018 – The ‘First Concrete” ceremony marking the beginning of main construction of the 2nd Unit of Rooppur Nuclear Power Project held at Rooppur of Ishwardi  today.  First portion of concrete was symbolically poured into the foundation base of the reactor building of the unit.

Prime Minister of the Govt. of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation for Defense Industrial Complex Affairs Yury Borisov and First Deputy Director General for Operations Management of ROSATOM Alexander Lokshin took part in the ceremony among others.

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«Eight months ago the ‘First concrete’ ceremony of Rooppur NPP Unit 1 construction was held. Today we are meeting again to start the main stage of construction of Rooppur NPP Unit 2. All the works at the Rooppur NPP construction site are going according to schedule. And thanks to close team work of Russian and Bangladeshi sides we are doing everything possible to finish the construction in time», said Alexander Lokshin. He added that eight Russian design units are at the different stages of construction in South Asia including Rooppur NPP Unit 2.

The design and construction works on the site are being performed by Atomstroyexport, ROSATOM Engineering Division. Rosatom Machine Building Division – Atomenergomash is the supplier of the complete equipment for the reactor island, as well as of the auxiliary equipment for the  turbine island. Various divisions of ROSATOM are in charge of manufacture of reactor vessels,  steam generators, pumps, heat-exchange and other equipment. Presently eight units of NPP are in various stages of construction in different countries of South Asia including Bangladesh and India. 

ROSATOM over the year of their operations has gained significant experience and developed expertise of working in this region. At the Kudankulam NPP of India two Russian designed Units have already been commissioned, two are under construction and preparatory works for another two units are underway. Construction of NPP in another site with Russian cooperation is also planned. Russia boasts of unique and long experience in erection of nuclear power plants, most complex high-technology engineering facilities, in different geographical locations and climatic conditions. 

For reference:

Rooppur NPP, with two WWER-1200 reactors, with the total capacity of 2400 MW, is under construction according to the Russian design at the Rooppur village of Ishwardi Upazilla ,160 km from Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh, in compliance with the General Contract signed on December 25, 2015. Atomstroyexport (Rosatom Engineering Division) is the General Contractor of Rooppur NPP construction. For the first Bangladesh NPP, the Russian design with WWER-1200 reactors has been selected, which is successfully functioning at Unit 1 of Novovoronezh NPP-2, It is a III+ generation evolutionary model, which   completely meets the international safety requirements. In 2017 the said Russian power unit was recognized as one of the world’s best nuclear power units, by the influential international publication POWER (USA). In 2015-2016 the preparatory works of construction site were completed, the detailed design documentation and the documents for substantiation of licenses for layout and construction of the units were developed. In 2017 implementation of the Rooppur NPP project continued according to the schedule. On 04 November, 2017 the Bangladesh Regulatory Authority (BAERA) issued the license for design and construction of the plant. On30 November, 2017 the ‘First Concrete’ ceremony of the Unit 1 of  Rooppur NPP  was held. Construction of the Unit is progressing according to the set schedule. Currently 5000 T of cement is being used per day at the site, 4,200 persons are engaged in construction works. On 08 July, 2018 Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority, BAERA issued the license for commencement of main construction of Unit 2 of Rooppur NPP. Heavy crane has been delivered to the Unit 1 construction site, which  will be used to install ‘Molten Catcher’ - one of the most essential safety systems of the unit. Commencement of commercial operation of Rooppur NPP Unit 1 is scheduled for 2023,  while Unit 2  for 2024. Each stage of  Rooppur NPP construction is under  strict supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and national regulatory authority.

Rosatom ( State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom) is a Russian state corporation, one of the global technology leaders. It is among the largest companies of the Russian Federation and one of the biggest tax payers of the country. It unites assets in the field of nuclear energy, NPP designing and construction and nuclear power engineering. State Corporation Rosatom is the largest powe  generating company in Russia, which in 2017 generated 202 868 billion kWh of electricity ( 18.9% of the total electricity generated in Russia). Rosatom holds the first place in the world in terms of  volume of foreign projects portfolio (35 power units in 11 countries), second place in the world in uranium reserves and forth place  in uranium mining.  State Corporation Rosatom covers 17% of the global nuclear fuel market. Rosatom activities also include the manufacture of equipment and isotope products for use in nuclear medicine, research and development, material sciences, supercomputers and software, manufacture of various nuclear and non-nuclear innovative products. The Rosatom strategy foresees the development of the projects for clean energy generation, including wind power engineering. Rosatom unites over 300 enterprises and companies, including the unique world nuclear icebreaking fleet. 

ASE - the Engineering Division of Rosatom State Corporation - was established by integration of the leading companies of the industry: JSC ASE EC  Atomstroyexport ,JSC – Atomenergoproekt, JSC ATOMPROEKT, JSC ASE is one of the global leaders in nuclear power engineering and holds 31% of the global NPP construction market. Representative offices, branches and front offices are operating in 15 countries. About 80% of the order portfolio are accounted for by foreign projects. It implements high power NPP designing and construction projects, RAW and SNF management facilities, thermal power facilities and renders services within the full range of EPC, EPC(M) and PMC for any complex engineering facilities. JSC ASE Group of Companies develops and uses the innovative Multi-D project management system in the area of complex engineering facilities construction, which allows more efficient management of such parameters such as budget, deadlines and quality. 

Source: Communications Department of ROSATOM