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A special cargo aircraft carrying nuclear fuel from Russia for Unit 2 of Bangladesh’s Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant could not arrive in the country as scheduled after it was reportedly denied permission to use Pakistani airspace.
The aircraft was scheduled to reach Dhaka on September 24.
However, the flight was cancelled at the last moment because the required airspace clearance was not obtained, delaying the delivery of the nuclear fuel.
According to Bangladesh’s Science and Technology Ministry, preparations had been completed at the airport, but the aircraft could not be dispatched after the required airspace clearance was unavailable.
The exact reason for the denial has not been officially disclosed.
Project-related sources said specialised cargo flights carrying nuclear fuel from Russia generally use a route through Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India before reaching Bangladesh.
However, it remains unclear whether that exact route was planned for the latest shipment and at which stage the clearance problem occurred.
Bangladesh is now expecting the shipment to be rescheduled. Russia has indicated that the nuclear fuel could arrive in the first week of October, according to the Science and Technology Ministry.
The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Bangladesh’s first nuclear power facility, is being built with technical assistance from Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom.
The two VVER-1200 units are designed to generate a combined 2,400 megawatts of electricity.
