ROOPPUR: Bangladesh received the first uranium delivery on Thursday for its Russia-backed nuclear plant, a project aimed at bolstering its overstretched energy grid but complicated by sanctions on Moscow.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has courted Russian ties with renewed vigour after Western criticism over her government’s rights record.

Moscow is bankrolling the $12.65-billion plant with a loan for 90 per cent of its cost, with hopes it will alleviate the chronic blackouts plaguing the South Asian nation.

“Bangladesh is our long-term friend and partner,” Russian President Vladi­mir Putin said during a videoconference with Hasi­na to mark the handover.

Putin also pledged assistance for uranium supply, maintenance and management of spent fuel.

Hasina described the milestone in her country’s nuclear ambitions as “a day of pride and joy for the people of Bangladesh” in a speech thanking Putin for “his guidance and assistance”.

Construction on the nuclear plant at Rooppur, a village on the banks of the Ganges river 175 kilometres west of the capital Dhaka, began in 2017.

The first of its twin 1,200-megawatt units is slated to begin operations next year and both reactors should be fully online in 2025, Bangladesh technology minister Yeafesh Osman told reporters on a tour of the facility on Wednesday.

Washington’s sanctions on key Russian firms since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year, including state nuclear agency Rosatom, delayed construction work because Dhaka was unable to make loan repayments in US currency.

Bangladesh agreed in April to make payments of more than $300 million in Chinese yuan in an effort to circumvent the sanctions.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2023