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Russo-German slugfest in Bangladesh
Senior Correspondent, bdnews24.com
Published: 2014-03-30 17:36:36.0 BdST Updated: 2014-03-30 17:42:05.0 BdST
Russian ambassador to Bangladesh.
The Russian and German ambassadors in Dhaka are now involved in a verbal slugfest over Bangladesh's Rooppur nuclear plant.
On Sunday, Russian ambassador in Dhaka Alexander Nikolaev took 'serious exception' to critical references made by his German counterpart about Rooppur nuclear plant.
Speaking at a seminar in Bangladesh Institute of International & Strategic Studies (BIISS), Nikolaev said the German ambassador's observations were 'uncalled for'.
“I do not know who asked him about this topic…he was always opposing Russian plans to construct a nuclear plant in Bangladesh.
“I could not understand instantly, what was the reason behind such a position, why the German diplomat was mentioning this topic?
“Then I recall that two years ago we (Russia) successfully completed a huge nuclear power plant in Iran that the German company Siemens could not do and gave up on. I think that is the reason,” he said.
German Ambassador Albrecht Conze recently expressed concerns over Bangladesh’s power policy, specially the decision to go ahead with the Rampal coal-based power project with India and the Rooppur nuclear power plant.
“Although Germany has opted against nuclear power generation after the Fukushima accident, we respect that other countries may make different choices,” the German envoy had said at a Khulna function.
But he pointed to two serious risks.
“First, you will see water temperature rise around the power plant, due to the need for constantly cooling the reactor. That will change the ecosystem.
“And second, you can never rule out earthquakes in Bangladesh. In general, nuclear power plants always pose risks which are hard to calculate when they are being built in seismically unsafe areas.”
Last year, Russia and Bangladesh signed a deal to build Rooppur nuclear power plant in Pabna.
The plant will add 1,000MW of power in a country desperate for electricity.
The Russian ambassador on Sunday said the question of the plant’s safety came up after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
Nikolaev was harsh on Conze when he said those who raise this “provocative” question “do not have any knowledge about elementary school physics and surely not about nuclear physics".
“By the way, I am also no expert,” he quipped, “but I have updated minimum knowledge of the subject.”
He said the Rooppur power plant would be 10 times safer than one at Fukushima and could sustain both earthquakes and air strikes.
He said he read couple of times in a Bengali newspaper that this power plants are so dangerous and so unsafe that dozens of Russia’s former Soviet Republics have refused them.
“I have nothing to say but laugh. It’s a complete lie.”
He said right now Russia was constructing more than 30 such nuclear power plants in different parts of the world including some in Russia’s own territory, East European countries, China, Vietnam and many other countries.
*I know very little about nuclear energy and scientific matters, but I think the Germans are right to point out potential problems with nuclear energy.
Senior Correspondent, bdnews24.com
Published: 2014-03-30 17:36:36.0 BdST Updated: 2014-03-30 17:42:05.0 BdST
Russian ambassador to Bangladesh.
The Russian and German ambassadors in Dhaka are now involved in a verbal slugfest over Bangladesh's Rooppur nuclear plant.
On Sunday, Russian ambassador in Dhaka Alexander Nikolaev took 'serious exception' to critical references made by his German counterpart about Rooppur nuclear plant.
Speaking at a seminar in Bangladesh Institute of International & Strategic Studies (BIISS), Nikolaev said the German ambassador's observations were 'uncalled for'.
“I do not know who asked him about this topic…he was always opposing Russian plans to construct a nuclear plant in Bangladesh.
“I could not understand instantly, what was the reason behind such a position, why the German diplomat was mentioning this topic?
“Then I recall that two years ago we (Russia) successfully completed a huge nuclear power plant in Iran that the German company Siemens could not do and gave up on. I think that is the reason,” he said.
German Ambassador Albrecht Conze recently expressed concerns over Bangladesh’s power policy, specially the decision to go ahead with the Rampal coal-based power project with India and the Rooppur nuclear power plant.
“Although Germany has opted against nuclear power generation after the Fukushima accident, we respect that other countries may make different choices,” the German envoy had said at a Khulna function.
But he pointed to two serious risks.
“First, you will see water temperature rise around the power plant, due to the need for constantly cooling the reactor. That will change the ecosystem.
“And second, you can never rule out earthquakes in Bangladesh. In general, nuclear power plants always pose risks which are hard to calculate when they are being built in seismically unsafe areas.”
Last year, Russia and Bangladesh signed a deal to build Rooppur nuclear power plant in Pabna.
The plant will add 1,000MW of power in a country desperate for electricity.
The Russian ambassador on Sunday said the question of the plant’s safety came up after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
Nikolaev was harsh on Conze when he said those who raise this “provocative” question “do not have any knowledge about elementary school physics and surely not about nuclear physics".
“By the way, I am also no expert,” he quipped, “but I have updated minimum knowledge of the subject.”
He said the Rooppur power plant would be 10 times safer than one at Fukushima and could sustain both earthquakes and air strikes.
He said he read couple of times in a Bengali newspaper that this power plants are so dangerous and so unsafe that dozens of Russia’s former Soviet Republics have refused them.
“I have nothing to say but laugh. It’s a complete lie.”
He said right now Russia was constructing more than 30 such nuclear power plants in different parts of the world including some in Russia’s own territory, East European countries, China, Vietnam and many other countries.
*I know very little about nuclear energy and scientific matters, but I think the Germans are right to point out potential problems with nuclear energy.