A new shipment of Russian nuclear fuel arrived on 27 October at the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh, destined for the second unit. Three trucks passed through the site gates at 7:46 a.m., escorted by the army and other law enforcement forces.
The consignment had landed in Dhaka the day before on a cargo flight carrying 41 tonnes of fuel in 12 packages. The aircraft followed a route passing over India. To allow the convoy through, the Pabna-Natore-Kushtia road was closed to traffic for half an hour.
Rosatom‘s plan calls for nine shipments in total. For Unit 2, 163 fuel assemblies are expected on seven cargo flights. A further 48 assemblies are earmarked for the initial refuelling of Unit 1 and have already been delivered in two separate shipments. All deliveries are scheduled to be completed by December. The fuel is manufactured at the Novosibirsk plant in Siberia.
On arrival, the containers are moved to a dedicated storage facility. There, the assemblies undergo visual and instrumental inspections under the supervision of a joint commission made up of representatives of Bangladesh, the general contractor and the fuel manufacturer. Only after these checks can loading into the reactor proceed.
Rooppur is the country’s first nuclear power plant. The project comprises two Generation III+ VVER-1200 reactors of 1,200 megawatts each, for a total of 2,400 megawatts. The general contract with Russia dates back to 2015. First concrete was poured in 2017 for Unit 1 and in 2018 for Unit 2. The fuel for Unit 1’s initial core load arrived in 2023 and was loaded between April and May 2026.
Unit 1 began the nuclear reaction on 11 October, following final authorisation from the Bangladeshi regulator on 8 October. It has already completed the physics tests of the B-2 phase. Authorities indicate that electricity supply to the grid should begin by the end of the year.
With the full fuel supply in storage, Unit 2 can move on to start-up testing without waiting for fuel. If the schedule holds, Bangladesh will enter 2027 with its first reactor connected to the grid and the second ready for the fuel-loading phase.
