Construction and installation work has been completed at unit 1 of the Rooppur NPP under construction in Bangladesh and station staff have embarked on a large-scale test programme, Rosatom reported. During the first stage, the operability of equipment and mechanisms will be tested. The main circulation pumps (GTsN – Glavnikh Tsirculyatsionnikh Nasosov) will be launched and tested for the first time.

The purpose of the programme is to test the reactor unit at nominal parameters without nuclear fuel to confirm compliance of the equipment with all design characteristics. The unit will then be ready for start-up operations.

The Rooppur plant is being built by Rosatom on the eastern bank of the Ganges River in Bangladesh’s Pabna district, about 160 km northwest of Dhaka. It will comprise two VVER-1200 reactors. In November 2011, Russia and Bangladesh signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the construction of the NPP and in mid-December 2015, a general contract was signed. In early 2017, the Russian government provided Bangladesh with a state loan of $11.38bn to finance the main stage of the NPP construction, which began in 2021. The general contractor is Atomstroyexport (ASE).

Dummy fuel assemblies – exact replicas of standard fuel assemblies but without nuclear fuel – were loaded into unit 1 in September. Nuclear fuel, which was delivered to the site last year, will only be loaded after the tests with the dummy fuel assemblies have been successfully carried out.

“We are completing preparation of the first power unit of the Rooppur NPP for physical launch,” said Andrei Petrov, First Deputy General Director of Rosatom and President of ASE JSC. “This is an important stage, during which we must perform a comprehensive set of works and tests proving the operability of technological systems in all operating modes. We will fulfil our obligations and guarantee the reliability and safety of our technologies. Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant will support the country’s economy and will work for the benefit of its future generations.”