A uranium shipment for the second unit of Bangladesh’s Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant has been delayed because a Russian cargo aircraft was not permitted to use Pakistani airspace. The aircraft was due to arrive in Bangladesh from Russia on Sept. 24, but the shipment did not arrive as scheduled.
Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology and Science and Technology Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam said officials learned that the aircraft carrying uranium for Rooppur had been due on Sept. 24 but was denied permission to use Pakistani airspace. He said the reason for the denial remained unclear.
Mahbub Anam said a new delivery date had been proposed and Russia indicated the shipment could reach Bangladesh in the first week of October.
Science and Technology Ministry Joint Secretary Sheikh Mohammad Touhidul Islam said all necessary preparations had been completed at the airport. A liaison officer for Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom then said airspace clearance had not been obtained, preventing the uranium shipment and requiring a new schedule.
Ministry officials, however, could not confirm which country had blocked use of its airspace. Rosatom had not responded to an emailed request for comment by publication time.
Rooppur, Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant, is being built with Rosatom’s assistance beside the Padma River at Pakshi union in Ishwardi upazila of Pabna district. The project is being implemented with Rosatom’s technical support under the supervision of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission. It includes two third-generation VVER-1200 reactors designed to produce a combined 2 thousand 400 megawatts of electricity.
The first uranium shipment for Rooppur’s first unit reached Bangladesh from Russia in 2023. A Russian heavy cargo aircraft landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka carrying 164 new fuel assemblies made at Rosatom’s Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant.
The uranium, covered by international security measures, was later transported from the capital to the Rooppur project site in special radiation-protected containers under security provided by the Bangladesh Army and law enforcement agencies. It was formally handed over at the site in October 2023.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report