Russian company JSC Elron has signed a contract to build the physical protection system (PPS) of Rooppur nuclear power plant . The agreement was signed between the Bangladesh Army and the Nuclear Security and Physical Security Cell (NSPC) of the Rooppur project in Pabna on Friday. The Russian company JSC Elron will build the physical security system of the nuclear power plant at a cost of Tk 2,400 crore.

This information has been known from the sources of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The Rooppur nuclear power plant project in Pabna is the largest project in the country so far at a cost of 1 lakh 13 thousand crore. 90 percent of this money is being borrowed from Russia, the rest will be given by the Bangladesh government. However, the contracted PPS project worth Tk 2,400 crore is not in the total cost. As a result, the cost of Rooppur project will increase further.
On November 5, 2019, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project ‘Construction of Physical Security System (PPS) at Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant’ at a cost of Tk 3,449 crore. At the time, the government said the PPS project would address the design and external threats to the Rooppur nuclear power plant. The main objectives of the project are to create a conducive environment for safe and secure nuclear power generation as well as to establish the management and control of radioactive substances, cyber security and sensitive information management.

Officials at the Ministry of Science and Technology told Prothom Alo that the government has given the responsibility of planning and implementing the physical security of the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Pabna to the Bangladesh Army. According to the agreement between the governments of Bangladesh and Russia, the Russian company will work as a contractor for the construction of the security project. The agreement was signed via video conference between Bangladesh Army, SSPC and Russia’s Elron on Friday.

According to the agreement, the construction of PPS has to be completed by March 2024. Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology at the signing ceremony. Rooppur project officials including Anwar Hossain, NSP’s chief coordinator Brigadier General Akhtar Shahid, Russia’s Rosatom director general, Konstantin Denisov, Elron’s director general Andrei Muraviyev.

Bangladesh has signed an agreement with the Russian state company Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) for the construction of this power plant project. Russia has hired Rosatom’s partner Atomstroy Exports as the contractor for the construction of the plant. On the other hand, the nuclear cooperation agreement was signed between Bangladesh and India on April 6, 2016. Based on this agreement, a tripartite agreement was signed between Bangladesh, Russia and India in January last year. In this reality, India will now be able to build, operate, train manpower, and even supply equipment to the Rooppur nuclear power plant.

Construction of 2,400 MW power plant in two units of 1,200 MW capacity of VVER technology has started in 2016. This work is expected to be completed in December 2025.