Research Proposal: Are Nuclear Power Plants viable for Bangladesh?

Date: 29th June, 2015

To: Ms. Nadia Kamal Al-Siraj (NKS)
From: Tasnif Mahmud
Eng105; Sec# 23
Subject:

Proposal to do a research on exploring the viability of Nuclear Power Plant in

Bangladesh.
Introduction:

Demand for electricity is increasing with the improvement of living standards,

increase in agricultural production, development of industries as well as overall development of

the country. But due to the failure in the last few years to generate electricity according to
proportionately, there is now a 1500-1800 MW electricity shortage. According to World Bank
Access to Electricity Report 2010 only 55.2% population have access to electricity.
Bangladesh's energy infrastructure is quite small, insufficient and poorly managed. The
per capita energy consumption in Bangladesh is one of the lowest (321 kWH) in the world.
Noncommercial energy sources, such as wood fuel, animal waste, and crop residues, are estimated
to account for over half of the country's energy. Due to the crisis of gas supply and lack of
necessary maintenance and rehabilitation of old power plants, it is not even possible to utilize the
total installed capacity.
It is very frightening that our natural gas reserves will be depleted within next 16
years. To secure sustainable power source government planning to establish nuclear power plan
which will be financed by Russia. Although nuclear power has a number of advantages, it also

presents some very serious threats. When disaster struck the Fukushima nuclear power plant in
Japan in spring 2011, the world was reminded of just how dangerous nuclear power can be. Even
though Japan is a highly advanced country, the plant operator was unable to get the situation under
control quickly enough. But the risks associated with nuclear power are not just limited to human
error, terrorist attacks and natural disasters; the uranium used to fuel these plants is becoming
increasingly scarce and mining it is extremely detrimental to the environment. Then there is the
matter of storing the nuclear waste, one of the most serious problems with getting our energy this
way. To date, only a few countries that use nuclear power have succeeded in finding repositories
for their nuclear waste, all the others still just have their waste in interim storage.
Research Questions:

Through my research I look forward to explore the possibilities and

effect that can cost us in the long run if we move forward to nuclear power plant. Through my
research I would attempt to answer the following research questions:
1. How much reliable are nuclear power plant would be?
2. What are the potential challenges that Bangladesh has to face in order to incorporate
nuclear energy for use?
3. What are the major effects of any failure in nuclear power plants?
4. Can Bangladesh government can bear such expensive and sensitive project?
Hypothesis:

Despite proponents claims that it is safe, the history of nuclear energy is

marked by a number of disasters and near disasters. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine is one
of the most frightening examples of the potentially catastrophic consequences of a nuclear
accident. An estimated 220,000 people were displaced from their homes, and the radioactive
fallout from the accident made 4,440 square kilometers of agricultural land and 6,820 square

kilometers of forests in Belarus and Ukraine unusable. (Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation, 2015) In 1979, the United States had its own disaster following an accident at the
Three Mile Island Nuclear Reactor in Pennsylvania. Although there were no immediate deaths,
the incident had serious health consequences for the surrounding area. A 1997 study found that
those people living downwind of the reactor at the time of the event were two to ten times more
likely to contract lung cancer or leukemia than those living upwind of the radioactive fallout.
(Wing S, Richardson D, Armstrong D & Crawford-Brown D, 1997, p.53-57). In 2012, after 9.0
magnitude earth quake, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant been affected badly and substantial
amount of nuclear material released. Which was biggest nuclear disaster in decades. Though Japan
is most technologically advanced country but they couldnt save 150 people who died because of
nuclear meltdown and consequences of this disaster is far more devastating than tsunami. Nearby
areas of Fukushima nuclear power plant have been deeply affected. Fukushima childrens have
higher cancer rates than any other place of Japan. According to report by world health organization,
radioactive water is still leaking from Fukushima plant and the nuclear power plant decommission
process will be continued for 30-40 years. (Behrens B & Holt M, 2013, p.40). Now if we consider
this situation in Bangladesh, the deaths and effect will be far more devastating than Japan.
Bangladesh is still lack behind in technology, we have only very few skilled people and resources
to run this kind of sensitive project. And most alarming thing is that, Bangladesh situated on Danki
Fault, which is highly active fault and may cause far more devastating earth quake than Nepal.
Establishing nuclear power plants takes lots of undertaking. There are many
potential challenges a Bangladesh may face such as like climate change, terrorist attack. Climate
change may further increase the risk of nuclear accidents. Heat waves, which are expected to
become more frequent and intense as a result of global warming, can force the shut down or the

power output reduction of reactors.

During the 2006 heat wave, reactors in Michigan,

Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Minnesota, as well as in France, Spain and Germany, were
impacted. The European heat wave in the summer of 2003 caused cooling problems at French
reactors that forced engineers to tell the government that they could no longer guarantee the safety
of the countrys 58 nuclear power reactors. (Nuclear Information & Resource Service, 2005). In
addition to the threat of nuclear materials, nuclear reactors are themselves potential terrorist
targets. Nuclear reactors are not designed to withstand attacks using large aircraft, such as those
used on the September 11, 2001. A well-coordinated attack could have severe consequences for
human health and the environment. A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists concluded that
a major attack on the Indian Point Reactor in Westchester County, New York, could result in
44,000 near-term deaths from acute radiation sickness and more than 500,000 long-term deaths
from cancer among individuals within 50 miles of the reactor. (Lyman & Edwin, 2004).
The existence of the nuclear plant and mining significantly contributes to high risk
of cancers occurrences particularly leukemia among the children. In Germany, children who lived
within a five-kilometer radius around nuclear power plants under five years of age develop cancer
at a 60% higher incidence than the national average. The blood cancer triggered particularly easily
by radioactive radiation and data gathered in the United States suggest that the cancer rate is also
higher in adults living close to nuclear facilities, not only the children. The same circumstances
are faced by the uranium miners who work in the nuclear power plant and excavation site (Health
S, 2010, p. 45). The radioactive waste from nuclear power plant able to go inside the human DNA
via the consumption of contaminated soil and water. Nuclear facilities release large amounts of
radioactive hydrogen including tritium, carbon, strontium, iodine, caesium, plutonium, krypton,
argon and xenon which are dispersed into both air and water. Country like Bangladesh where

majority of people live below proper living standard, where food hygienic not considered a major
issue, people still dying from lack of proper medicine and treatment,there nuclear power plant is
like luxarious and frightining dream indeed.
The nuclear industry is hugely expensive. The construction and generating costs
of nuclear power are greater than most renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
Added to these are costs associated with dismantling nuclear stations and waste disposal. The
cleanup costs for the UKs existing nuclear industry and its waste have alone been estimated at up
to 100bn. That's 100bn of public money (L. Jared, 2007, p. 34). Nuclear power plant need
continious subsidies to run its operation smoothly. There are many cost related for operating this
kind of plant like processing cost, tranportation cost and waste dispossiol cost. A country like
Bangladesh where we have TK 866.57bn budget deficit and have to rely on other country for loan,
it is very much uncertain to maintain this kind of project. Further more, if any kind of disaster
happens, the cost of decomissioning nucler power plant is rocket high, which will be unbearable
for us.
Research Methodology:

For my primary research I would like to conduct ( at least 3)

direct, in-dept interviews of fauclty member from Enviromental Science, Eletrical and Engineering
and Economics department at North South University regarding enviromental and economic
feasibility and also specialist regarding these fields. For understanding and incorpating the general
people prospective, I shall be conducting a survey using a questionnaire that I`ll be eventually
develpoling. I `ll be distributing my questionnaires among a those people who have considerable
knowledge regarding that matter. For my secondary research, I plan to collect information from a
wide array of books , peropdicals and other relevant supplementary materials that I plan to access
through the university database/catalogue and the World Wide Web.

Organizationl:

My research paper will be divided into several sections.chapters the most

important of which will be : introduction, background, hypothesis, data presentation and analysis
and summary of reserch findings.
Timetable:

I plan to complete my secondary reserch by the first half of the semester

and my primary reserch by the third quarter of the semester.

Request for Approval:

I hereby request your approval for my research proposal;should you

wish me to modify or change my topic,hypothesis or proposal, I will act accordingly to incorporate

your feedback and make all the necessary changes in my proposal. I would also be very grateful
for your guidance and assistance in conducting and completing my research project.