Bangladesh on Wednesday signed a deal with Russia's state atomic energy corporation Rosatom to build its first two nuclear power plants as it looks to close a yawning power deficit. "We have signed the deal today to ease the power crisis that hampers our economic activities," said Yeafesh Osman, state minister for science and information and communication technology.
He told reporters after the deal was signed in Dhaka that construction of the power plants, each of 1,000 megawatt capacity, would start by 2013 and take five years to complete. Bangladesh gets the bulk of its energy from natural gas and fuel oil, but suffers from power shortages as wide as 1,500 MOW. This would be its first foray into nuclear power.
Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Mohammad Mijarul Quaes told reporters in the same briefing that the construction of nuclear power plants would reduce the dependence on fossil fuel and also diversify the source of energy. More than 80 percent of Bangladesh's electricity comes from natural gas which is depleting fast and would be fully exhausted by the year of 2015 if new gas is not found, energy officials said.
Comments
Comments are closed.