Rosatom repatriates 178 Russians working on Rooppur project

Russia's state atomic energy corporation, Rosatom, on Monday organised a special charter flight from Dhaka to take 178 of its employees back home to Nizhny Novgorod in Russia. 

These people were engaged in the construction of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh. However, their absence will not hamper the on-going work of the project, said a press release.

Most of the Russian citizens left Bangladesh as a regular replacement procedure while a few expressed their desire to stay with their respective families amid the global coronavirus crisis. All are in good health as no cases of Covid-19 have been reported at the Rooppur plant's construction site. 

However, as per the rules of the Russian Federation, they will spend 14 days in isolation at a special facility in Nizhny Novgorod under supervision.

"Today, with the consent of the Government of the Russian Federation, we organised a charter flight and returned 178 people to Russia." said Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev.

After the situation normalises, all employees who had desired to return to Russia will be able to return to their respective workplaces.

Currently, over 2,000 foreigners – the majority from Russia – are working at the Rooppur plant's construction site.

Bangladesh is building its first ever nuclear power plant at Rooppur in the Ishwardi Upazila of Pabna District.

The first and second units of the nuclear plant – each with the capacity to generate 1,200 megawatts of power – are expected to go into commercial operation by 2024 and 2025, respectively.