Nuclear power and the fear we need to outgrow: The case for Rooppur

On April 28, 2026, a quiet but historic moment unfolded in Ishwardi, Pabna. Engineers began loading uranium fuel into the reactor core of Unit 1 of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant—a process that will, within months, produce the first atom of electricity Bangladesh has ever generated from nuclear energy. 

It was the culmination of a dream that dates back to 1961, when the then-Pakistani government first identified this very stretch of the Padma riverbank as the site of the subcontinent's nuclear future.

Sixty-five years is a long time to wait. And yet, as Bangladesh finally crosses this threshold, a cloud of public anxiety lingers: the deep human discomfort of embracing a technology that feels, even when rationally understood, like it demands a kind of trust most of us find difficult to extend. 

The energy trap Bangladesh must escape

Bangladesh's economy has grown remarkably, but on the back of natural gas—a resource that will run dry by the early 2030s. 

Imported LNG is subject to geo-political price shocks as evidenced by the Russia-Ukraine war. Renewables, while vital, face a structural disadvantage in this flat, densely populated, monsoon-prone delta. 

The arithmetic of energy security eventually led Bangladesh to the same conclusion that 32 other nations before it had reached: nuclear power offers something no other low-carbon source currently can—large-scale, round-the-clock electricity generation that does not depend on sunshine, wind, or the daily price of fossil fuels.

Rooppur's two units, each generating 1,200 megawatts, will meet 10–12% of the country's electricity demand.

The government estimates that electricity from Rooppur will cost between Tk4 and Tk4.50 per unit, compared with Tk13.77 from furnace oil and Tk28.17 from diesel.

The plant will do so with virtually zero carbon emissions—a critical advantage for one of the world's most climate-vulnerable nations.

The fear, and where it comes from

The anxiety is understandable. 

Much of it is the natural response of a society encountering a genuinely complex technology for the first time, shaped by half a century of global imagery: Hiroshima, Chernobyl, Fukushima. These events have lodged themselves in the collective imagination far more powerfully than the reality of hundreds of reactors operating safely around the world, year after year, without incident.

The truth is that public fear of nuclear power has always outrun its statistical risk. 

Research shows nuclear energy causes approximately 0.03 deaths per terawatt-hour of electricity produced. Coal causes roughly 25 times more. Oil causes around 18 times more. Even natural gas causes nearly 3 times more deaths per unit of energy. These figures include the full death tolls from Chernobyl and Fukushima. The fear, understandable as it is, is a perception shaped by the magnitude of rare catastrophes, not by the everyday reality of the technology's safety record.

What Rooppur is actually built to do

The Water-Water Energetic Reactor (VVER-1200) at Rooppur is not the technology used at Chernobyl. The Chernobyl reactor could accelerate its own nuclear reaction under certain conditions. The VVER-1200 has the opposite property—negative feedback mechanisms that cause the reaction to slow naturally if temperatures rise. 

Beyond this, the design incorporates passive safety systems that function without operator action or electrical power, and a "core melt trap"—a 144-tonne steel vessel engineered specifically from lessons learned at Fukushima—to contain molten material in a worst-case scenario. The plant is also built to withstand magnitude 9 earthquakes and hurricane-force winds. 

In August 2025, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conducted a Pre-Operational Safety Review at Rooppur, identifying specific improvement scope, which Bangladesh committed to implementing before commercial operation, with a follow-up IAEA verification mission planned. 

The design incorporates passive safety systems that function without operator action or electrical power, and a "core melt trap"—a 144-tonne steel vessel engineered specifically from lessons learned at Fukushima—to contain molten material in a worst-case scenario. The plant is also built to withstand magnitude 9 earthquakes and hurricane-force winds. 

Talking to people, not just building for them

A nuclear power plant is not merely an engineering project. It is a social compact, and it only holds if the people it affects understand and trust what is being done. To its credit, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) and its Russian partner Rosatom have launched concrete public engagement efforts. 

A Nuclear Information Centre operates in Dhaka and another near the Rooppur site. A month-long outreach campaign across Pabna district included a nuclear bus tour to every upazila, debate competitions and Q&A sessions with Pabna University of Science and Technology, and a traditional gambhira folk performance communicating the plant's story in local dialect. A seminar series titled "Nuclear Power–Myths, Reality and Public Interest" has since expanded to local colleges, meant to contradict misconceptions.

These are meaningful beginnings. 

Research among residents within the precautionary zone found that while many broadly support nuclear energy, a significant number remain unfamiliar with emergency response plans. 

Countries with mature nuclear programmes—France, South Korea, Japan—treat public trust not as a box to tick at the outset, but as a relationship maintained across the entire life of the plant. Regular community briefings, school-level nuclear literacy programs, and safety reports in plain Bangla should be the standard. 

The government's intention to broaden its campaigns is exactly the right instinct, and the moment to act is now.

Where commitment must deepen

Emergency preparedness must be drilled, not just planned. 

International standards require evacuation of the 5km zone within 15 minutes and the 30km zone within one hour. Bangladesh's dense population and monsoon-prone roads make this challenging, and the response must be equally real: regularly practiced drills with actual communities.

The regulator must be visibly independent. 

Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority's (BAERA) credibility and public trust in the plant depend on being seen as independent from the government bureaucracy. Strengthening BAERA's capacity and autonomy is a pillar of the project's long-term legitimacy.

Domestic expertise must grow. Over-reliance on Russian technical knowledge for operations, fuel, and waste management creates long-term vulnerability. Bangladesh must invest in its own nuclear scientists and engineers—so the knowledge to run Rooppur safely becomes genuinely Bangladeshi.

What 75 years of nuclear history tells us

When the Calder Hall plant opened in England in 1956—the world's first to feed nuclear electricity into a commercial grid—the public reaction was not fear but fascination. 

The fear came later, shaped by Chernobyl and Fukushima—events that were real, and also the source of the very improvements that make today's reactors significantly safer.

This is perhaps the most important thing to understand about nuclear technology: it learns. Every accident has driven redesign, every near-miss has tightened protocols, every regulatory failure has produced stronger oversight. The VVER-1200 is the product of seven decades of accumulated global experience.

Thirty-two countries have made this calculation before Bangladesh. South Korea generates approximately 30% of its electricity from nuclear power, with one of the world's most impressive safety records. 

France generates around 70%. India and Pakistan, Bangladesh's neighbours, both operate nuclear plants. None are reckless with their populations. They have made an evidence-based judgment that nuclear power, properly regulated, is safer and cleaner than the fossil fuels it replaces.

A final word on the fear itself

Public concern about Rooppur is not irrational. 

It is the expression of a society that has not yet fully internalised what 75 years of nuclear experience looks like in practice. That is not a failure of intelligence. It is a gap in communication, and the responsibility for bridging it lies with the government, with BAEC, with scientists, educators, and journalists alike. 

The awareness programmes now underway—the community sessions, the gambhira performances, the nuclear bus tours—are a foundation. What is built on it, over the coming years of operation, will determine whether Bangladesh not only generates nuclear electricity, but does so with the full confidence of the people it is meant to serve. 

The challenge now is to operate it in a way that proves the doubters wrong: not through argument alone, but through decades of safe, clean electricity, and a government that keeps talking to its people, honestly and without pause, every step of the way.

Hussain Samad is a Consultant at the World Bank in Washington, DC, and an independent researcher. He can be reached at hsamad2000@yahoo.com.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard