Accord on spent fuel likely by month-end

Minister for Science and Technology Yeafes Osman will fly to Russia by the end of this month to sign an Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) on spent fuel management for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP).
"Bangladesh and Russia have approved and initialed the draft of agreement on spent fuel management for Rooppur nuclear power plant in March, 2017, both sides agreed to prepare the final documents for formal signing at the earliest. However, this time we are going to finalise it," Acting Secretary Anwar Hossain for Science and Technology Ministry told the Daily Observer.
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, however, they now want to sign an agreement on 'importing spent fuel from Bangladesh,' according to the sources of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
"We will fix up the modality of this agreement and the transportation cost of spent fuel will be discussed there," a senior official of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) said.
The Rooppur project will cost Taka 1.13 trillion ($12.65 billion), with Russian financing worth $11.38 billion provided to Bangladesh for the project.
The Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs and Bangladesh's state-owned Sonali Bank Ltd. will work as authorised banks for the state loan. The Bangladesh government will provide Taka 220.52 billion from its respective share of funding.
Other issues which were discussed are - scheduling of events related to the completion of the preparatory phase contracts and the beginning of the main phase of the Rooppur NPP construction.
According to Science and Technology Ministry sources, Moscow's shift regarding management on RNPP's spent fuel will also increase the cost of the proposed RNPP.
According to Rosatom sources, the first unit of the Rooppur nuclear power plant will have the electricity generation capacity of 1,200 MW which will be commissioned in 2022 and the second unit in 2023.
Works for the preparatory phase of the RNPP is nearing completion and the main construction is expected to begin in the second half of the current year, Rosatom said.