Bangladesh is set to sign an agreement on Russia taking back spent nuclear fuel from the proposed Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant on Wednesday.
A high-powered Bangladeshi delegation led by the minister of state for science and technology Yeafes Osman will leave for Moscow today in this regard, officials said.
On June 5, the Bangladesh cabinet had approved a draft of the pact titled ‘Agreement between the Russian Federation and Bangladesh on Cooperation Concerning Return of Spent Nuclear Fuel from Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant to the Russian Federation’. 
Managing director of Nuclear Power Plant Company Bangladesh (NPCBL) Dr Mohamed Shawkat Akbar said the agreement will safeguard the country from the hazard of nuclear waste.
“It would help in disposal of nuclear waste in accordance with full safety measures,” Akbar said.
Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp is going to build the 2,400MW nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna district. The first two units of the plant are expected to go into operation in 2023.
Last year, on July 26, the government had signed a credit agreement for $11.38bn with Russia for the proposed plant.
The Russian government will provide the loan at a Libor interest rate for six months plus 1.75% per annum, but it will never cross 4%.
Bangladesh will pay off the loan in 28 years with a 10-year grace period.
On December 25, 2015, Dhaka had signed a general agreement with Moscow to build the nuclear power plant at Rooppur.
Bangladesh already ratified the ‘Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities’. The original convention was first adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) member-states in 1979.
Around 107 countries have signed and ratified the recent amendment to the Convention of the IAEA so far, and Bangladesh also needs to sign the amendment as a signatory of the original convention. The amendment covers domestic use of nuclear materials, storage and transportation.
l State-owned Power Development Board (PDB) signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) yesterday with local private company Intraco Solar Power Limited (ISPL) to buy electricity from its 30MW grid-tied solar power plant to be set up at Gangachara in Rangpur district.
The tariff of per kilowatt electricity of the project was fixed at 16 US cents which is equivalent to 12.80 taka. Intraco also signed an implementation agreement (IA) with the Power Division for the project.
As per the contract, Intraco will implement the project within the next 13 months and start commercial operation of the plant in September 2018.

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