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Bangladesh: calls to stop Russia’s nuclear project

Prominent Bangladeshis ask Russia not to build nuclear power plant, Bellona,  January 11, 2016 by Andrei Ozharovsky, translated by Charles Digges  ROOPUR, Bangladesh – Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and the government of Bangladesh have signed a deal to invest $12.65 billion in a project to build two 1200 MWe nuclear power units at Rooppur.

ROOPPUR, Bangladesh – Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and the government of Bangladesh have signed a deal to invest $12.65 billion in a project to build two 1200 MWe nuclear power units at Rooppur…….

Bangladesh, with its population of 150 million people, is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia, and is often rocked by political turbulence, terrorism and attacks on foreigners.

But in keeping with Rosatom’s practice of padding its foreign order book, the Bangladesh project looks like another in a long list of reactor export deals relying on huge credits financed by Russian taxpayers to countries that have scant chanced of repaying them.

Russia has already earmarked $500 million in credit to Bangladesh, and the start of construction will still require a few more loans from the Russian budget. That may be a hard sell, given Atomenergoprom, Rosatom’s foreign reactor building wing, last year suffered an embarrassing credit rating downgrade to a “BBB –.”

And where the deal earlier envisioned building Russia’s well-test work-horse VVER-1000 reactor, newer documents stipulate Bangladesh will receive the VVER-1200, which still has not been used for industrial-scale energy production ever.

Local’s who stand against the plan have also told Bellona that Bangladesh can fair fine on cheaper and readily available renewables and other climate friendly solutions it is now obligated to pursue as one of the 195 signatories of the Paris accord.

The plan for the Bangladesh has elicited criticism from experts in the local population, and Bellona has interviewed Bangladeshis who are against the import of Russian nuclear reactors.

One of these is Nusrat Islam Khan, a journalist from the city of Pabna in Bangladesh’s central district, which is where the plant would, in fact, be located. Her chief concern is that the plant’s construction was a political, not a popular decision…….

Another prominent Bangladeshi who spoke with Bellona was Arup Rahee, of the Center for Bangladeshi Studies…… http://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2016-01-prominent-bangladeshis-ask-russia-not-to-build-nuclear-power-plant

January 11, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ASIA, opposition to nuclear