Dhaka seeks Delhi's know-how to run RNPP

Bangladesh wants Indian cooperation in implementing Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Project, the first of its kind in the country, as the government feels there is a need for expert supervision to handle the mammoth task worth about Tk 160,000 crore.
To materialize the idea Minister for Science and Technology Yeafes Osman and senior officials of the Indian government will visit Moscow to sign a tripartite agreement this month.
"We are going to take a very unique and new culture here to produce energy. However, we need experts' suggestions and supervision to implement it as we do not have people with the required technical know-how here," Yeafes Osman told the Daily Observer on Wednesday.
In line with this, the Ministry is set to conduct an inter-ministerial meeting on November 6 as it needs the Cabinet's nod for inclusion of a foreign government in the project.
Last July, Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India in this regard.
As per the MoU, India intends to provide all kinds of cooperation, including security of this project through a tripartite agreement with Bangladesh and Russia.
"In line with this we received a draft titled, "India-Russia-Bangladesh cooperation MoU for successful implementation of the RNPP project," all three parties will sit in Moscow in the last week of this month," the Minister said.
Yeafes will visit Moscow on November 21, according to officials of the Ministry.
"All these things will be done as per Article-2 that said exchanges will be made of knowledge and experience, advisory services, technical assistance and assets in boosting the skill and capability of the workers, including the running of the power plant safely as well as ensuring its security."
It further said the parties concerned will help enhance advisory and technical capability in the fields of construction, running, regulating and maintenance in waste management and refining at the power plant. Where applicable, they will exchange experience in running and maintenance of the power plant.
"A tripartite agreement will be signed determining how much assistance will be taken from which country and how," Dr Md Showkat Akbar, project director of RNPP said.
"Bangladesh will sign the tripartite MoU along with Russia instead of signing any bilateral deal with India so that Russia does not raise any objection to receiving advice or assistance from India as Russia is the main contractor. This is not any separate agreement with India and Russia has got no reason to raise any objection to it," he added.
"The meeting will also discuss the "taking back the spent fuel" of proposed RNPP and also fix up the modality in this regard," Yeafes Osman said.
Earlier, Russia agreed to remove the spent fuel of the reactors and take back the highly radioactive rods once they have completed their 'life-cycle' to their country safely from the proposed RNPP. However, they now want to sign an agreement on 'importing spent fuel from Bangladesh,' according to sources in the Ministry of Science and Technology.
"At the meeting, we will fix the modality of this agreement and the carrying cost of spent fuel will be discussed there," a senior official of BAEC told the Daily Observer on Monday.
 Bangladesh is going to build a nuclear power plant, using Uranium 235 as the reactor fuel at the proposed plant. However, the waste products of Uranium can become dangerous and fatal.
About the issue that the country has no institutional capacity to undertake a project like this and consequently safety standards will be seriously diminished so we need experts supervision except the contractor's supervision, that's why we want Indian cooperation as India is using the same technology and its experts are very close to our country, the Minister said.
According to the inter-governmental agreement, Moscow will provide all assistance for construction, fuel supply, removal and management of spent fuel rods, formulation of legal and regulatory framework, infrastructure, and human resources development and financing, Minister Yeafes Osman said.