With the completion of concreting work of the inner containment dome of Unit-1 at the under construction Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant recently, the completion of the project reaches one more step closer, project official said.

Earlier, at the end of June, the installation of the inner containment (IC) dome metal structures in the reactor building of Unit 2 of the power plant project has been completed.

Over 3200 cubic meters of concrete was laid in the structure of more than 17.6 meters high with 42.8 meter diameter at the base. The work was performed by RosSEM Trust, part of Rosatom Engineering Division.

The construction work of the country's first nuclear power plant is going on in full swing at Rooppur in Pabna district, with the support of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom. The total capacity of the plant has been estimated at 2,400 MW. The government believes at least 1,200MW units of electricity from the first nuclear plant will be added to the national grid by 2023. The second one with the same amount of power will be launched by 2024.

“Concreting of inner containment dome is the final stage of construction of the passive safety system.  Next stage work includes CPS strands tensioning and the containment testing”, said Alexey Deriy, Vice President of ASE and Director of Rooppur NPP construction project.

The inner containment is one of the main elements of the NPP safety system. It not only protects the reactor compartment but also provides support to the pipelines penetrations and the polar crane, which is used for servicing the reactor.

Rooppur NPP with two generation 3+ VVER-1200 reactors is being constructed under the Russian design. General designer and the general contractor of the project is the RosatomState Corporation Engineering Division.

It is a top priority project on the Bangladesh government’s agenda. The progress of the work of the plant is closely monitored by the Prime Minister’s Office.

The main construction work of the power plant is continuing at Rooppur, while at the same time, essential machinery is being made in Russia. Some of the machineries have already reached Bangladesh, some shipped and others are still in the manufacturing process.

Officials said the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will bring about a comprehensive change in the country's economy, contributing more than two percent to GDP growth.

Once the nuke plant goes into operation, it will offer a window of opportunity, such as ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply to over 15 lakh families, and jobs for a large number of people.

On October 2 in 2013, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the first stone in the foundation of Rooppur NPP. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had approved the construction of the Rooppur NPP Project on December 6, 2016 at an estimated cost of Tk 1,13,092.91 crore.