The third shipment of nuclear fuel, weighing 41 tonnes, has arrived at the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Ishwardi, Pabna, under tight security measures.

The vehicles transporting the fuel arrived at the plant premises at approximately 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, accompanied by a military escort.

A shipment arrived at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday morning via a special flight from Russia, after a stopover in Delhi, India. The fuel was packed in twelve transport containers.

In the early hours of Tuesday, containers were loaded onto three lorries and driven by road to Rooppur. The convoy crossed the Bangabandhu Bridge, passed through Bonpara in Natore and Dashuria in Ishwardi before arriving at the project site.

Police officers were deployed at multiple intersections along the route to control traffic. In addition, personnel from the military, the Special Security Force (SSF) and various intelligence agencies participated in the security arrangements.

Police and project officials said the fuel was transported from Dhaka under a special security protocol. To avoid congestion, traffic on sections of the highway was temporarily restricted while the convoy passed.

Project officials indicated that 163 uranium fuel assemblies destined for the plant’s second unit are scheduled to arrive in seven shipments, while a further 48 assemblies for refuelling the first unit are expected in two shipments. The latest delivery represents the third shipment for the second unit.

Seven additional fuel‑laden flights from Russia are scheduled for November and December, with the cargo expected to transit through Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Russia's state nuclear energy corporation, Rosatom, has stated that the fuel supply process is expected to be completed by December.

Fuel for the plant’s first unit reached Bangladesh on 29 September 2023, with four further shipments arriving during October and November of that year. The loading of fuel into the first unit’s reactor was finished in May 2024.

The first unit will need to replace roughly one‑fourth of its fuel after approximately 18 months of operation. A shipment of additional fuel for that unit arrived at Rooppur on 3 October, while a second shipment for the second unit reached the project site on 21 October.

According to the agreement, Russia will provide fuel for the plant for its first three years of operation. After that period, Bangladesh will be required to import fuel for periodic replacement.

The Rooppur nuclear power plant consists of two reactors with a combined capacity of 2,400 MW. Although fuel loading for the first reactor has been completed, the commencement of electricity generation has been postponed because of technical complications.

Power generation was slated to start this month but was delayed after a fault was discovered in a safety valve of the automatic pressure‑relief system. The valve underwent a third round of testing, completed on 30 September, and, after obtaining regulatory clearance, project officials initiated the nuclear reaction process on 11 October, project sources said.

According to sources, the required tests and procedures for the first unit, including the B‑2 phase of physics testing, were completed this week. The reports have been submitted to the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA) for review.

Following final approval, the unit is slated to advance to Stage C—also referred to as power startup—a critical step before electricity generation. In this phase, the plant’s systems will undergo extensive testing to confirm their operational functionality.

Why it matters

The arrival of additional nuclear fuel advances the operational timeline of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, a critical national infrastructure project aimed at boosting Bangladesh's power generation capacity.