A shipment of uranium fuel for the second unit of Bangladesh’s Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant has been delayed after a cargo aircraft carrying the nuclear fuel failed to obtain clearance to use Pakistani airspace, Bangladeshi officials said.
The aircraft was scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on September 24, but the shipment did not reach the country as planned.
Science and Technology Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam confirmed the development in a phone conversation with India’s ANI news agency. He said Bangladesh had not yet been informed of the exact reason why Pakistan denied the aircraft permission to use its airspace.
A new schedule for transporting the uranium fuel is now being worked out. Russia has indicated that the shipment could arrive in Bangladesh during the first week of October, the minister said.
Sheikh Mohammad Towhidul Islam, joint secretary at Bangladesh’s Ministry of Science and Technology, told ANI that all necessary preparations had been completed at the airport ahead of the shipment’s expected arrival.
Officials were also waiting for the aircraft when they were informed by a liaison official of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom that there was an airspace-related problem affecting the flight.
As a result, the aircraft was not dispatched according to the original plan. Towhidul Islam said a new schedule may have to be arranged, although Bangladeshi officials did not provide further details about which country or authority had blocked the flight.
ANI reported that it had contacted a Rosatom representative for comment, but no response had been received by the time of publication.
Rooppur nuclear project
Rooppur is Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant and is being built on the banks of the Padma River in Rooppur village of Pakshi Union in Ishwardi, Pabna.
The project is being implemented by the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission with technical assistance from Rosatom. It consists of two third-generation VVER-1200 reactors, with a combined generation capacity of 2,400 megawatts.
The first shipment of low-enriched uranium fuel for Rooppur Unit-1 arrived in Bangladesh in October 2023, marking a major step toward the country’s transition to nuclear power generation.
The nuclear fuel was manufactured at Rosatom’s Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant in Russia. The first shipment contained 164 fresh fuel assemblies and was transported directly from Russia to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka by a heavy cargo aircraft under international security arrangements.
The fuel was subsequently transported from Dhaka to the Rooppur site in Ishwardi in specially secured, radiation-resistant containers. Authorities established a special “green corridor” between Dhaka and Ishwardi, while the Bangladesh Army and other law-enforcement agencies provided security during the transport.
The fuel was formally handed over at the Rooppur project site in October 2023.
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