The government will conduct a feasibility study on the augmentation of power to be produced from the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant to the national grid through transmission lines, reports UNB. A project, titled ‘Feasibility study for adding power from the Nuclear power plant to the national grid’, got the initial nod from Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on March 21 last. The project was placed before the Ecnec meeting for its appraisal on April 12 held with Ecnec Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Talking to the news agency, the Planning Minister said the meeting made some observations on the project and asked the Power Division to reflect those observations before implementing the project. The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) under the Power Division will implement the mini-project by December 2016 at a cost of Tk 10.1037 crore. Of the total project cost, Tk 9.2670 crore will come from the state coffer while the rest from the PGCB’s own fund. Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamala noted that the Power Division would get ample scope for reflecting the observations before implementing the project considering the necessity of that period when the nuclear power plant would go into operation. Sources at the Power Division said since the project was not included in the ADP of the current fiscal, a pre-approval was taken from the Planning Minister on December 20 last year for processing the project.
The official said the aim of the project is to conduct feasibility study for determining necessary specification and design for constructing transmission lines and power sub- stations to add power to be generated from the two Rooppur nuclear power plants having the capacity of 1255 MW each to the national grid.
The official also said the feasibility study is aimed at scrutinisng and improving the grid system for adding power to the national grid.
He said according to the Power System Master Plan (PSMP) of the country, there is a provision for generating 4000 MW of power from the nuclear power plants. In line with that master plan work is going on to construct two nuclear power plants at Rooppur in two phases having the capacity of each 1255 MW.
Since the structure and operations of the nuclear power plants is complex and there is a need for the highest level of safety and cautionary measures, the project concerned has been initiated.
The Pre Evaluation Committee (PEC) meeting on the project was held on January 4 this year where the Planning Commission suggested giving approval to this project with some recommendations.
Meanwhile, on December 25 last year, the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) and Russian company, JSC Atomstroyexport, signed a general contract for the construction of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) recently. BAEC Chairman Md Monirul Islam and Vice President of Atomstroyexport Vladimir N Savuskhin signed the contract on behalf of their respective organisations.