The assembly process of the reactor at power unit-1 of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant has been successfully completed. According to Rosatom, the Russian contractor for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Project, the process involved installing reactor internals, loading fuel assembly simulators, installing a protective pipes unit, an upper unit, and Smart Automated and Monitoring Systems (SAMS) sensors, which marks a key milestone in the project. The next stage will involve hydraulic testing to ensure the operability of the reactor plant's equipment. Rooppur NPP: Engineers receive training on nuclear fuel handling Specialists from Atomstroyexport, Atomtekhenergo, and Rosenergoatom were responsible for carrying out the assembly work. Alexey Deriy, Atomstroyexport Vice President for Projects in Bangladesh, stressed the importance of this stage, saying, “Completion of the reactor assembly and getting prepared for key tests is an important stage to ensure the efficient operation of the future power unit. We are responsible for the safe, uninterrupted, and reliable operations.” “We carefully monitor each stage of the work, using advanced methods and technologies that have been tested many times at our construction sites,” he added. The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant is being developed with technical and financial assistance from Russia. It will house two power units with a combined capacity of 2,400 MW. The project utilises Russian VVER-1200 reactors, a Generation III+ design that meets all international safety standards. Rosatom Engineering Division serves as both the general designer and general contractor for the project.

Installation of the Transport Lock has been completed in the Power Unit 1 of the reactor building of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). According to the Rosatom, the Russian contractor of the Rooppur NPP project, the Transport Lock will be used for the loading of nuclear fuel and its unloading at the power plant. The transport lock is 12.7 meters in length and 10 meters in width, and it weighs 235 tons. It is one of the biggest pieces of equipment on the project in terms of dimension. After the NPP start-up, fuel simulators will be delivered through the lock, and it will ensure full maintenance of the reactor. “Installation of the transport lock in the design position is an important stage for the completion of civil works in the reactor compartment building,” said Alexei Deriy, ASE Vice President and Director of the Rooppur NPP Construction Project. Further work on the assembly and adjustment of the transport lock will be carried out after the jacketing of the power unit 1 dome. Read more: Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project delayed by Russia-Ukraine War: Yeafesh Osman Rooppur NPP equipped with two VVER-1200 reactors with a total capacity of 2400 MW is being constructed under the Russian design. VVER 1200 is an evolutionary generation III+ design that fully complies with all the international safety requirements. The Engineering Division of Rosatom State Corporation is implementing the project as the General Contractor. According to Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), the 2400 MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project, with two units, was undertaken in 2010. A target was set by the government to complete the construction of the first unit in 2022 and second unit in 2023. But later the target was reset, and the first unit was to be completed by June 2024 and second unit by June 2025.

Welding of the main coolant pipeline (MCP) has been successfully completed in the reactor building of Unit 2 at Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). According to Rosatom, the Russian Contractor of the Rooppur NPP, the entire process of joining, welding, and heat treatment of 28 weld joints took 60 days. Another 6 days were required to complete surfacing with austenitic stainless steel that will protect the pipeline from aggressive media, it said. The main coolant pipeline is a system of pipes connected to the primary circuit. It consists of four loops, each of which is connected to the reactor and reactor coolant pump and steam generator. The MCP is 140 meters long with an inner diameter of 850 mm and weighs 238 tons. “During the NPP operation, coolant with a temperature of 320 degrees centigrade will be circulating through the MCP, therefore, pipeline welding is a very responsible process involving the most experienced welders.Each weld joint passes seven inspections at different work stages, which guarantees its reliability and quality”, said Alexey Deriy, ASE Vice President and Director of Rooppur NPP Construction Project. About 100 employees of Energospetsmontazh were engaged in the works. Specialists from NIKIMT-Atomstroy provided technical, expertise, and consultation support. Read more: Generator stator installed at Unit-1 of Rooppur NPP Rooppur NPP is being equipped with two Russian VVER-1200 reactors of a total 2400 MW capacity. The VVER-1200 reactors belonging to Generation III+ fully comply with all the international safety requirements. The Engineering Division of Rosatom State Corporation of Russia is implementing the project as the general contractor. According to Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), the 2400 MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project, with two units, was undertaken in 2010. A target was set by the government to complete the construction of the first unit in 2022 and second unit in 2023. But later the target was reset, and the first unit was to be completed by June 2024 and second unit by June 2025. Bangladesh's Science and Technology Minister Yeafesh Osman has recently said that the government is trying to complete the construction work of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project within the stipulated timeframe. Read more: Bridge cranes installed at Unit 2 of Rooppur NPP “Due to the Russia-Ukraine war and subsequent dollar crisis, work of the project has been delayed to some extent,” he said while briefing reporters after a joint meeting of his ministry with the Power Division on in November last year at Dhaka’s Bidyut Bhaban.  

Rosatom, the main Russian contractor of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) project, on Wednesday said that it would extend all "support and cooperation" to Bangladesh police probing the recent deaths of five Russian staffers. UNB on Tuesday reported about the five deaths at the nuclear plant plant in the past two weeks that had prompted the police to initiate the investigation. In a statement, JSC Atomstroyexport (the engineering division of Russian state corporation Rosatom) said that nothing suspicious had been found in the deaths as per preliminary reports. "At this moment, we are extending every possible support and cooperation to the investigation team working to confirm the reasons for each and every case of death," the company said. "Based on the final investigation report, with the support of our local and foreign partners, stakeholders, healthcare service providers and the administration, we will take all kinds of necessary measures to prevent the repetition of such sad incidents in future," it added. The company also condoled the deaths and expressed "deep sympathies" with the families of the deceased employees. "We always consider our employees as the best asset for the company and their life and wellbeing is our topmost priority." Read: Bagerhat multiple trawler tragedy: One more body fished out, toll touches 7 On 28 January, Barcenko Alexei, 48, died during treatment at Ishwardi Upazila Health Complex, while Shakiroff Alexei, 40, passed away in his sleep on 2 February. Three days later, Schukin Pavel, a 48-year-old mechanical engineer of sub-contractor firm Trest Rossem, died at the same upazila medical facility after suddenly falling sick. Tolmasoff Vassiliev, 59, another employee of another sub-contractor firm, died on the stairs of his 14th floor flat at a tower in the Green City housing project for the Russian officials of the power plant the same day. On January 6, Vortonikov Alexander, a 45-year-old employee of Nikim Atomstroya firm of the plant, was found dead in his flat at the same residential complex. Asadussaman, officer-in-charge of Ishwardi police station, had said that the autopsy reports of the deceased Russian nationals “did not show anything suspicious”.  

Concreting of the fifth tier of the inner containment of reactor building at Unit 2 of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant has been completed. According to a statement of Rosatom, the Russian contractor of the project, it took the specialists of Trest Rossem 23 hours of uninterrupted work to cast 850 m3 of self-compacting concrete mix on December 24. Read: Steam generators installed at Unit-1 of Rooppur NPP “Concreting of the fifth tier of the inner containment from elevation +38.180 to elevation+43.400 was completed significantly ahead of schedule, '' said Alexey Deriy, Vice President of ASE and Director of Rooppur NPP Construction Project. “This is a testament of the high professional level of the specialists of Trest Rossem in Bangladesh and a good example of well-coordinated work of the entire team at the construction site”, he added. Concreting of the fifth tier completes the construction of the cylindrical part of the inner containment- one of the main components of the NPP reactor safety system, which prevents release of radioactive substances into the environment. The dome of the power unit will be installed on it in the next phase. Currently, works are in progress for manufacturing of elements for the containment dome part. It is planned to complete the erection of steel structures of the inner containment dome in the first half of 2022. Read: RPV to be installed in Rooppur nuke plant Sunday Rooppur NPP will have two units, each equipped with a Russian Generation III+ VVER-1200 reactor of 1,200 MW capacity. This evolutionary reactor design fully complies with all the international safety requirements. The General designer and general contractor of the project is Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division from Russia.

The sixth tier of the inner containment dome of the reactor building has been installed at Power Unit-1 of the under-construction Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP). The metal structure of 44m diameter and 185t weight has been installed in its regular place on the cylindrical part of the reactor building containment at elevation +44.100, according to Rosatom, the Russian constructor. The operation was carried out by specialists of the Trest RosSEM branch using a Liebherr heavy crawler crane of 1350t lifting capacity. A day before lifting, a special mounting beam of 15 steel cables had been installed, it added. Read: Russia ships equipment for Rooppur nuclear plant "The first of the three tiers of the inner containment dome part has been assembled. The next stage of the work will be to mount the subsequent two tiers pre-assembled into one unit of the reactor dome containment, at the design level. As soon as both structures are welded together, we will start concreting the dome," JSC ASE Vice-President and also the Director for the RNPP Construction Project, Alexey Deriy, said. Preparations for this operation took several months. The metal structures of three tiers of the reactor building dome were pre-assembled into 2,185t and 191t reinforced metal units on special slipways located in the immediate proximity of the power unit. The Rooppur NPP site is located in Pabna. The facility is designed and constructed by the engineering division of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation of Russia. Read: Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant unit 2 hydraulic tests completed The nuclear power plant will consist of two VVER-1200 reactor power units; their life cycle is expected to be 60 years, with the possible extension of service life of another 20 years. The Russian design with VVER-1200 reactors, successfully implemented at Novovoronezh NPP-2, was selected for the first NPP in Bangladesh.

Hydraulic tests on the nuclear reactor pressure vessel of unit 2 of the under-construction Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant has been completed. Atommash – part of Atomenergomash, the engineering division of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom – carried out the tests. The hydraulic tests were performed in a three-level underground caisson test bench. To install the reactor pressure vessel in the design position, a supporting ring was first installed on the test bench, and then a VVER-1200 reactor pressure vessel was placed on it. The equipment was moved using an overhead crane with a lifting capacity of 600 tonnes. Also read: Reactor pit construction at Rooppur NPP power unit No.1 completed The reactor pressure vessel with a height of 11 metres was lowered into the caisson with high precision and closed with a process cover, Rosatom said. After creating a complete sealing, the item was filled with distilled water, heated to 65 degrees, created a maximum pressure (24.5 MPa) – 1.4 times higher than the working pressure and held for 10 minutes. The hydraulic tests of the reactor pressure vessel of unit 2 of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant confirmed the tightness of the base metal and the weld joints of the reactor pressure vessel. The Russian contractor said, "The reactor is a vertical cylindrical vessel with an elliptical bottom, inside which the core and internals are located." Also read: FM, senior MoFA officials visit Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant The top of the reactor is hermetically sealed with a cover with drives of mechanisms and controls and protection of reactors installed on it and nozzles for outputting cables of sensors for the in-core monitoring. The Rooppur Power Plant is being designed and built according to a Russian project. The design and construction of the facility are carried out by the engineering division of Rosatom. The plant will consist of two power units with VVER-1200 reactors, the life cycle of which is 60 years with the possibility of extending the service life for another 20 years.

The Volgodonsk Branch of JSC "AEM-technology" (part of the machine-building division of Rosatom - "Atomenergomash") manufactured and shipped the internals of the nuclear reactor for the first power unit of the under-construction Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) in Bangladesh.

Reactor pit construction at Rooppur nuclear power project (NPP) unit No.1 in Bangladesh has been completed, said a Rosatom press release.

Rosatom has joined the United Nations Global Compact, the largest corporate social responsibility and sustainable development initiative for businesses across the world.