Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh is set to enter into an Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) with Russia for construction of the country's first nuclear power plant at the cost of US$ 1.5-2.0 billion by 2018, a senior government official said.
The IGA agreement might be signed during a proposed visit by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Russia later this year, said an official at the Science and Information Communication Technology (ICT) ministry.
The cabinet has already approved signing of the deal between Bangladesh and Russia early this month to build the nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna.
The government has planned to build the Rooppur nuclear power plant as part of its mega plan to generate 20,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity by 2021.
"We look forward to constructing two nuclear power plants having the capacity of 1,000-1,200 MW each by 2017-18," Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) chairman Md Mozammel Haque was quoted by the Financial Express (FE), a local newspaper, as saying.
He also said the IGA will help inking the final deal for construction of the planned nuclear power plant.
Bangladesh has planned to build the nuclear power plant utilising the latest available technology focusing on safety and security as the topmost priority, Mr Haque said.
Earlier in February this year, Bangladesh and Russia initiated an agreement to install the country's first nuclear power plant.
Deputy Director General of Russian State Nuclear Company (Rosatom) Nikolay Spasskiy and Secretary of the ministry of Science and ICT Md Abdur Rob Howlader have signed the deal on behalf of their respective countries at BAEC.
Bangladesh also signed a framework agreement with Russia in May, 2010, following a memorandum of understanding (MoU) reached in 2009 for building the Rooppur nuclear power plant.
Under this deal, Rosatom will supply necessary fuel for the reactors during its life-time and take back the spent fuel.
Russia will also manage nuclear waste and help decommissioning of the nuclear power plant in the future under the deal.
Science and ICT Ministry of Bangladesh will act as the Competent Authority of the government, while BAEC will act as the 'customer' of the nuclear power plant project on Bangladesh's part.
For Russia, Rosatom will act as the Competent Authority to implement the project.
Both Bangladesh and Russia have agreed to set up a joint coordinating committee that will include representatives nominated by Rosatom and the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, and those appointed by Bangladesh's Commission on Nuclear Energy and the Ministry of Science and ICT.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) allowed Bangladesh to install nuclear power plants in 2007 along with seven other developing nations for peaceful use of nuclear energy, a ministry official said.
Bangladesh's serious electricity supply problem has prompted the country to go after installation of its 'first' nuclear power plant around the half-a-century-old mostly incomplete Rooppur project.
Officials said Bangladesh's plan to set up a nuclear power plant at Rooppur in the country's northwestern Pabna region was conceived during the country's pre-independence period in the early sixties.
Before 1971, when Bangladesh was a part of the then Pakistan, different companies from the United States, the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), the United Kingdom (UK) and Switzerland conducted a number of feasibility studies on the project.
BBN/SSR/AD-23Aug11-10:08 am (BST)