Russia’s NPP Near the Bay of Bengal

While the US is hunting for allies in the Asia-Pacific region to establish an anti-Chinese military alliance, Russia too has lost hope of finding new partners in the region. One of the states with which Russia has managed to establish strong ties is the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. It shares a common border with India and Myanmar and has a direct access to the Indian Ocean, which is advantageous both from economic and strategic points of view.

In the 1970s the USSR assisted Bangladesh in its war of independence with Pakistan, and then it helped to rebuild the country after the war. A new stage of bilateral relations between Russia and Bangladesh began in 2009, when the party Awami League headed by Sheikh Hasina came to power in this country. In early 2013, she paid an official visit to Russia, to discuss agreements on cooperation in the field of finance and the fight against terrorism that were later signed. The volume of bilateral trade between Russia and Bangladesh in recent years has almost reached 1 billion dollars. Dhaka has become a major supplier of seafood and textiles to the Russian market, while Moscow is exporting metal industry products and heavy machinery to Bangladesh. Among the most notable recent deals between the two countries one can mention the acquisition of a number of Russian Yak-130 advanced jet trainers for Bangladesh Air Force. Dhaka has also recently become one of the major grain importers among Russia’s partners. According to official data, in September of this year, Bangladesh imported about 245 thousand tons of grain from Russia, which accounts to 14.5% of all Russian exports. The urge to sign such a massive deal governed by the low selling price, justified by unusually rich harvests Russia saw in 2016

However, the most significant area of cooperation between Russia and Bangladesh is nuclear energy. In the autumn of 2011 the two countries signed an agreement on construction of the first nuclear power plant in Bangladesh Ruppur a hundred miles from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.

Rosatom’s sub-company NIAEP-COC was entrusted with constructing of this massive power plant. The agreement that determined the timeframe of the construction works and responsibilities of the parties was signed in late 2015 during Sergey Kiriyenko’s visit to Dhaka. The Director of Rosatom refused to disclose the price of the contract, but according to some media reports, it exceeded 12 billion dollars.

So far, the parties agreed about the construction of two blocks, powered by the Russian VVER-1200 reactors, that have been successfully operated at Novovoronezh NPP-2. Each reactor has the capacity of 1.2 thousand megawatt. It should be noted that a particular attention was paid to the project safety, since the station will be equipped with top of the line safety systems, that will fulfill the highest international standards.

Construction works started in 2013.At this stage the engineers began the construction of the site along with the creation of the necessary infrastructure. The launch of the first reactor is scheduled for 2022, the second will become fully operational in 2023. But it will take a year the Bangladeshi side to witness that the two blocks are fully operational to start commercial exploitation of those.

The funds that were necessary for the launch of this project were provided by the Russian side. At the beginning of 2015 Sheikh Hasina visited Russia again. During her visit she signed a loan agreement that will provide with the funds needed for the pre-consturction works. Russia’s Government has already issued a decree according to which Dhaka is to receive a loan of 11.38 billion dollars for the construction of the NPP.

Some experts were questioning the safety of the project, since the territory of Bangladesh. The wet tropical climate results in natural disasters like floods and storms, which often lead to cases of massive destruction of civil property and loss of life. Back in 1991, the flood caused by cyclone Marian killed 140 thousand men.

Yet another source of concern is the location of the power plant, since it is being constructed on the east bank of the Ganges river that is the main source of drinking water for the population of Bangladesh. What can safely state that the whole population of Bangladesh totally depends on this river. Moreover, since the better part of the 170 million people living in the country is engaged in agriculture,should the Ganges be polluted with radiation, the consequences would be pretty horrific. Here it is worth remembering what the losses incurred in the country of the 1970s. One can still remember the crisis that occurred in Bangladesh when India built its notorious Farakka barrage.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that the Rappur project found ardent opponents. That is why in the summer of 2013, before the construction even began, NIAEP-COC and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission agreed to conduct an engineering and environmental expertise to confirm the safety of the project. It is worth noting that the site for the construction was chosen back in 1960, when Bangladesh was still part of Pakistan. The latter, too, wanted to build a nuclear power plant in this area. Every since then, this area has been repeatedly examined by scientists from various countries, including Germany and Switzerland, and they found that the site is safe enough for the construction of the plant.

In addition, the technologies that are going to be used by Russian engineers ensures that even in an event of a natural disaster there will be no radioactive contamination. The station will be provided with extra thick concrete walls and the so-called “Melt trap” – the passive safety of the reactor system, which in case of an accident allows to ensure the isolation of the nuclear fuel. According to Ali Zulkarneyna, chairman of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, the security of Russian nuclear power plants – one of the most important reasons Dhaka’s decision to turn to Moscow.

In conclusion, once can say that the Ruppur project allowed Russia to find a longstanding partner in the region. It should be remembered that the operational periods of a VVER reactor is 60 years, and with proper maintenance – 80. It is noticeably longer than the life span of your average military alliance.

Dmitry Bokarev, political observer, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.