Planning The plan to establish a nuclear power plant in the then
East Pakistan was made in 1961. In 1963, the Rooppur village of the Pabna district was selected for the proposed plant and 260 acres of land was acquired. The plan was to establish a 200MW nuclear power plant on the selected site.
Pakistan government. From 1977–86, the French company MS Sofratom carried out a feasibility study and determined that the Rooppur project was viable. Between 1997 and 2001, the
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) embarked on a new initiative to develop a nuclear power plant with a capacity of 600 MW. Two years later, in 2007, the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) put forth a proposal for the construction of two 500 MW nuclear reactors in Rooppur, aiming for completion by 2015. A year later, on 13 May 2009, BAEC signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russia's
Rosatom on "Cooperation in Using Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purpose". Then, on 21 May 2010, Bangladesh and the Russia signed a framework agreement on "Cooperation in Using Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purpose". On 10 November 2010, the Parliament of Bangladesh made the decision to proceed with the immediate implementation of a nuclear power project. Later the same year, the IAEA examined and offered suggestions for the national nuclear power infrastructure.
General contract On 25 December 2015, representatives of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom signed the general contract for Rooppur nuclear power plant worth US$12.65 billion. The general contract for the construction of two units is an
EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contract and it includes construction, installation, erection work, the development of working documentation, the supply of equipment and materials, nuclear fuel for initial loading and two reloads, personnel training, and commissioning. Furthermore, the contract includes the delivery of nuclear fuel from Russia as part of the construction work until 2027. This differs from the contract awarded to Rosatom for the
Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, which was limited to Engineering and Procurement (EP), with the Indian side responsible for construction and commissioning.
Technology selection The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) considered building a power plant using VVER-1000 technology or equivalent from other suppliers in 2007, estimating costs between $0.9 billion and $2 billion. This was followed in 2014 by Moscow
Atomenergoprom's confirmation that it would deliver two units based on the AES-2006 design, with
Novovoronezh II designated as the reference plant for the project. However, in September 2013, Marat Mustasin, general director of Atomenergoproekt, clarified in an interview with Nuclear.Ru that although the geological survey at Rooppur would be conducted under the VVER-TOI project, a decision on which specific reactor design the plant would be adjusted to would be made later.
Construction On 4 November 2017, the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission received, from the
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority, the design and construction license of Unit 1, paving the way for the nuclear island first concrete pour. The
nuclear reactor and critical infrastructure are being built by Russian companies.
Atomenergomash is the engineering division of Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom. This company is the supplier of all the equipment for the reactor compartment of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant and a significant part of the equipment for the machine room. On 14 July 2018, the first concrete was poured for Unit 2. The following month, Rosatom began installing a 200-tonne
core catcher as the first large piece of equipment in the reactor building of Rooppur 1, describing it as "a unique protection system". When the
COVID-19 pandemic struck Bangladesh in early 2020, many projects such as the
Dhaka Metro Rail were stalled, but the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant remained on track to be completed by 2023 or 2024. Progress in this period included Rosatom's engineering company
Atommash completing hydraulic tests for Rooppur unit 1.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, however, meant international sanctions and restrictions on movement of Russian capital and personnel. By 2022, Russia claimed its work on the plant was unaffected. Concrete work for Unit 2 was completed in January 2024. On 18 December 2018, Rosatom announced that its Engineering Division had successfully completed the construction and installation work at Unit 1 of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
Commissioning On 17 September 2024, the loading of Dummy Fuel Assemblies (DFAs) into the core of Unit 1 started in order to validate reactor hydraulic parameters during circulation flushing, as well as during reactor hot and cold tests.
Expansion In 2024, the Prime Minister at the time,
Sheikh Hasina, requested that Rosatom build two additional units upon completion of the first two units. == Safety ==