RNPP to be placed before ECNEC today

The Planning Commission will place a $12.65 billion Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant before the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) today for final approval.
Earlier on June 27, the Cabinet approved the draft of the inter-governmental state credit agreement signed between Dhaka and Moscow for constructing the power plant at an estimated cost of USD 12.65 billion.
However, the Planning Commission did not discuss the fuel and spent fuel carrying cost.
Bangladesh will have to repay around $20 billion against its $11.38 billion loan from Russia for implementing the 2,400MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, the largest project ever for the country.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) and Russian Finance Ministry reached a state export credit deal of $11.38 billion on July 26 this year. Of this amount, $11.38 billion will come from Russia. The rest of the financing, which isaround $1.27 billion, will be provided from Bangladesh's own funds. The loan will be used to pay for the construction of the plant from 2017 to 2024.
"We are set to introduce a new culture in power generation through using nuclear fuel, everybody knows that we have to go for fuel-diversification as sources of energy in Bangladesh is very limited," the Minister for Science and Technology told the Daily Observer.
The main plant will have two units with 1,200MW nuclear power generation capacity each and its work is expected to be completed by December, 2025. The main construction project follows a Tk 5,087 crore nearly finished first phase project under which necessary preparations for constructing the main plant have been completed.  
The Russian state credit has a repayment period of 20 years, including eight years of credit utilisation period and 10 years of grace period. It bears London Inter Bank Offer Rate (LIBOR)+1.75 percent interest rate and it won't exceed 4 percent in total, according to project documents.  
If LIBOR is increased, then Bangladesh has to give back more money. However as per the contract, no matter how much LIBOR has increased, the cumulative interest rate cannot be more than 4%.
In that case, Bangladesh will at most need to repay around $20 billion to Russia.
The payback ($18.23 billion) is $6.84 billion or 60.12 percent higher than the principal credit amount.
Though this high interest will shoot up the project cost, officials said the total cost of the project will not cross $20 billion.
In January 2013, Bangladesh and Russia signed a $500 million loan agreement to cover the costs of a feasibility study, plant design, infrastructure development and training of the plant's personnel.
On April 02, 2013, the ECNEC approved the first phase of the project at a cost of Tk 5,242 crore without specifying the total cost of the project. Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) signed an agreement with NIAEP-ASE to conduct a feasibility study and an environment impact assessment (EIA) study for the project at a cost of $45.9 million.
A second deal worth $265 million was signed in September 2013 with the Russian State Atomic Energy Commission (Rosatom) for the first phase of the work even though no construction at site before the feasibility study is permissible according to the IAEA guidelines. Moreover, any construction at site without a construction permit violates the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Act, 2012, former chairman of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission Dr Abdul Matin said.
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission signed a general contract with Atomstroyexport, a Russian nuclear power equipment and service exporter, on  December 25, 2015 to construct the main power plant after formation of state-owned Nuclear Power Plant Company of Bangladesh in September last year.
The initiative for setting up a nuclear power plant at Rooppur under Ishwardi upazila of Pabna district was first taken in 1960.
Accordingly, feasibility studies on the project's technical, economical and financial aspects were conducted in 1960, 1977-78 and 1988-89, but the project could not see the light because of financial constraints of the government.
The project was again undertaken with the direct supervision and guideline of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following the Awami League government's taking office in 2009.As per its 2010 power sector master plan, the government seeks to raise electricity generation to 24,000MW by 2021 and 40,000MW by 2030 where contribution from nuclear power has been estimated at 10 percent.
In May 2010, the government signed a MoU and a framework agreement with Russian Federation with regard to construction of nuclear power plant with 2,400MW power generation capacity, followed by technical and financial agreements.
According to the sources in the Science and Technology Ministry, Bangladesh to sign a separate deal with Russia for taking fuel and sent back the spent fuel to Russia by 2017.