Honorable Prime Minister, you are giving false information about the Rooppur Nuclear Power Project.

Special Correspondent

BNP Acting Chairman and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s statement regarding the cost of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, “It costs 14,000 crore taka in the neighboring country, 114,000 crore taka in Rooppur,” has been proven to be factually incorrect and misleading.

A detailed analysis shows that he has presented two completely different projects as one, comparing Rooppur with India’s Kudankulam project.

Rooppur vs. Kudankulam: Basic Differences

1. Differences in technology

The state-of-the-art Russian third generation (Generation III+) VVER-1200 reactor is being used in Rooppur. It is one of the safest and most advanced technologies in the world today.

On the other hand, the first two units at Kudankulam in India used the second-generation VVER-1000 reactor. The VVER-1200 is much more advanced in terms of technological advancement, safety level, and efficiency.

2. Project type and facilities

Rooppur is a complete turnkey project. Rosatom is not just building the plant, but also:

• Design
• Equipment supply and installation
• Commissioning
• Staff training
• Full fuel supply for the first three years

Everything is covered by this agreement. Since Bangladesh started from zero in nuclear power, these services had to be included in the agreement.

India is a country with experience in nuclear power in Kudankulam. So India will operate it with its own trained manpower, safety arrangements and many other works itself. India has a separate agreement for the supply of uranium as fuel. Rosatom is mainly limited to construction work there.

3. Rationale of expenditure

The total cost of Rooppur is $12.65 billion (about 1.39 lakh crore taka). This includes everything from state-of-the-art technology, turnkey facilities and training. The first two units of Kudankulam (2000 MW) cost much less in 2002 prices. But the costs of the subsequent units have increased significantly. Direct comparisons are not possible due to the time lag between the contracts (more than 15 years), inflation, technological developments and differences in contract terms.

4. Other international comparisons

In Rosatom’s similar modern VVER-1200 project:

• Hungary’s Paks II (2400 MW): $13-15 billion
• El-Dabaa in Egypt (4800 MW): around $28-30 billion

Rooppur’s expenditure is consistent with these projects.

Experts say Tarique Rahman has tried to mislead the public by ignoring the complexities of nuclear projects, differences in technology, turnkey versus non-turnkey contracts, and the reality that Bangladesh is starting from scratch. The Rooppur project is a historic milestone in Bangladesh’s power sector, which will help the country provide reliable and environmentally friendly electricity.

(Source: Rosatom official contract document, Bangladesh Ministry of Science and Technology, International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA report and independent project analysis)