Nuclear power comes to Bangladesh

“A reactor in Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant has reached criticality, achieving a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction for the first time. The reactor is now operating at low power while engineers conduct further tests, and is expected to start providing electricity to the grid as early as next month. Once fully operational, the plant’s two reactors will have a combined generating capacity of 2,400 megawatts, enough to meet roughly 11 percent of Bangladesh’s electricity demand,” reports Human Progress.

Some countries near Bangladesh have no nuclear power at all, such as Thailand and Myanmar.

Technology reports that “Officials at Bangladesh’s Rooppur plant say a single working reactor could save the country about $1 billion a year in fuel imports. That plan took its biggest step yet on Sunday, when the plant’s first unit achieved criticality at 15:34, sustaining a nuclear chain reaction for the first time in Bangladesh’s history.

Criticality does not yet mean electricity. The reactor now runs at minimum controlled power while engineers confirm its stability and run tests in sequence. Output will then rise in stages. Rosatom has scheduled the power start-up for November 20, and officials aim to begin feeding the national grid in late November. Commissioning follows International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines.

Inside the plant, heat from fission will turn water into high-pressure steam that drives turbines connected to generators. Unit 2 is already moving forward: its first nuclear fuel consignment arrived on October 3.”

In neighboring India, nuclear power provides 3% of the country’s electricity generation.

India recently passed a law to let private companies build and operate nuclear power plants.

Nuclear power accounts for 18% of Pakistan‘s total electricity generation.

Despite having lots of oil, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently built four nuclear power reactors.

A sodium-cooled nuclear power plant was recently approved in Wyoming. “Sodium cooling allows reactors to operate at higher temperatures and lower pressures than conventional water-cooled plants, which can improve efficiency. The design will also include thermal storage, allowing the reactor to store energy as heat during periods of low demand,” reports The Doomslayer. Right now, nuclear energy produces about 19% of the electricity generated in America.

Nuclear energy produces no greenhouse gas emissions or air pollution. Nuclear plants generate most electric power in countries like France and Slovakia.

Nuclear power is already “the safest form of energy we have, if you consider deaths per megawatt of energy produced,” notes Yale University’s Steven Novella. “Wind turbines, surprisingly, kill more people than nuclear plants,” noted an environmentalist. Unlike wind farms, nuclear power plants don’t kill birds. The biggest utility that generates wind power pleaded guilty to federal crimes for killing 150 eagles.