Russia Considering Additional Phase for Bangladesh Nuclear Plant, Says Rosatom CEO

Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev says Rosatom is discussing the construction of an additional phase of large units at Bangladesh's Rooppur nuclear power plant.

Russia is in talks with Bangladesh to build a new phase of high-capacity units at the Ropur nuclear power plant near Dhaka, RosAtom CEO Alexei Likhachev said on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week forum.

Ropur, which was built in cooperation with the state-owned company Rosatom, is the first nuclear power plant in this South Asian country. Its first unit will be connected to the national electricity grid by the end of November.

"We are primarily talking about the possible additional phase of large units," Likhachev told reporters. Although our Bangladeshi friends are also discussing with us small capacity units and a research reactor, in my opinion the main future development trend is to increase the capacity of the Ropur plant.

He said that Bangladesh has asked Rosatom for proposals for "small nuclear power plants and floating nuclear power plants".

The Ropur power plant consists of two Russian-designed reactors with a combined capacity of 2400 MW. Moscow is financing the $11.9 billion government loan for the project, which is estimated to cost $12.8 billion.

Rosatom expects to start commissioning the second unit of the Ropur plant next year, Likhachev said. The first unit reached a critical point on Sunday - where a self-sustaining chain reaction occurs.

Russia is providing equipment, nuclear fuel and engineering assistance for the project, and the plant is expected to supply up to 12 percent of Bangladesh's electricity demand when completed.