Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant

Chairman of NPCBL:
Md. Anwar Hossain
Secretary
Ministry of Science and Technology

Name: Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.

Type: Nuclear.
Location: Rooppur, Ishwardi, Pabna, Bangladesh.

Owner: Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC).

Operator/Company: Nuclear Power Plant Company Bangladesh Limited.
Builder: Russian Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation.
Capacity: 2400 MW (2 × 1200 MW).
Area: 254 acres.
Proposal Initiated: 1961.
Discussion after Independence: 1974 with Soviet Union. No agreement made.
Nuclear Power Action Plan of Bangladesh: At 2000 by BD government.
Memorandum Signed: 2009 by Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation (ROSATM).
Agreement Signed: December 25, 2015 by Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation
(ROSATM).
[N.B: tricks to remember: no progress during the periods except Bangladesh Awami League
Government].
Project Started (Reactor 1): November 2017.
Projected in Service: 2023.
Project Started (Reactor 2): July 2018.
Projected in Service: 2024.
Construction Cost: $12.65 billion, 90% funded by Russian government.
 Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant
Fuel: Uranium-235 (4.69% avg. enrichment). Uranium enrichment indicates the enrichment of U-
235 in natural uranium. Natural uranium consists only 0.71% U-235. Major potion is U-238. In a
light water reactor (LWR), it is very less efficient to use heavy uranium like U-238. That’s why
natural uranium is enriched. U-238 can be used in the pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR).
PWR is a type of LWR. Here, light water is H2O and heavy water is D2O.
Fuel (Core) Life: 3-4 years.
Fuel Cycling: 18 months.
Reactor: VVER (WWER) 1200, i.e., vodo-vodyanoi energetichesky reackor (water-water
energetic reactor). Water-water, because both the coolant and moderator are water.
Model: V-523.
Generation: III+.
Capacity: 1200 MW
Fuel Rods: 42.
Control Rods: 121.
Circulation Loop: 4.
Steam Generator: Horizontal.
Reactor Type: Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), i.e., the coolant is pressurized to
achieve high boiling point. Better heat transfer rate and efficiency.
Coolant: Water; which is used to carry the heat produced by the nuclear fission. Heat is
transferred to the steam generation circuit (secondary circuit) right away.
Moderator: Water; which is used to lessen the unnecessary speed of neutron, since too
fast neutron can’t participate in reaction properly, i.e., slows down the reaction.
Control Rod Material: Cadmium; which is used to control the reactivity.
Thermal Capacity: 3212 MW.
Efficiency: 34% (thermal).
Main Equipment Lifetime: More than 60 years.
Standby Power Generator: Diesel Engine.
Generator Working Voltage: 24kV.
Transmission: 400 kV double circuit to Bogura, Dhaka, Gopalganj, Dhamrai. 220 kV double
circuit to Rooppur and Baghabari.
Radiation Detector: High Purity Germanium Detector (HPGD). Basically to detect radiation at
food products, crops etc.
 Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant
Safety Features of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant: A VVER nuclear power plant is being built
in Bangladesh using the most modern technologies that ensure safety at all project implementation
stages.
Reactor Conditions: The reactor has five layers of barrier (shell).

First Layer: Steel lined cylindrical pressure vessel. It contains moderator,

reflector, control rods, fuel rods.
Second Layer: Steel lined inner containment.
3rd and 4th Layer: Concrete (mixed with lead) containment. Also known as
biological shield; which will resist alpha, beta and gamma rays.
5th Layer: Outer containment; which will resist natural disasters, e.g., tornadoes,
hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, etc.

The reactor is called double-wall containment reactor due to inner and outer
containment. Better safety.
Active Safety System: The emergency core cooling systems (ECCS) provide core cooling
under loss of coolant accident conditions to limit fuel cladding damage. The emergency
core cooling systems consist of two high pressure and two low pressure systems. The high
pressure systems are the high pressure coolant injection (HPCI) system and the automatic
depressurization system (ADS). The low pressure systems are the low pressure coolant
injection (LPCI) mode of the residual heat removal system and the core spray (CS) system.
Passive Safety System: The passive safety systems are capable of functioning even in the
event of a complete loss of power supply. They can provide full safety without the active
systems and an operator. A passive annuals filtration system (PAFS) for the space between
the biological shield and the outer containment is elaborated in the VVER-1200 reactor.
The system excludes radioactive emission in the environment through the outer
containment in any cases associated with the failure of the active biological shield.
Core Catcher: A core melt localization device (CMLD), i.e., a core catcher is installed at
the bottom of the shell. It is designed to localize and cool the molten core material in case
of an accident. The core catcher allows the barriers to be unharmed and thus excludes
radioactive emission in the environment, even if the accident is serious.
Boron Containing Water: Boron is a neutron absorber. In case of an emergency, the
pressure in the primary circuit drops to a certain level, fluid is supplied to the reactor and
it cools the core. Thus, a nuclear reaction is quenched (fast cooling process) by a great
amount of boron-containing water that absorbs neutrons.
Waste Disposal: Russia is likely to supply nuclear fuel in the form of fuel assemblies.
Therefore less maintenance is needed. They will take the spent fuel back. Bangladesh will
not have to worry about disposal since it will be transported back to Russia in properly
shielded containers.