Pakistan denied overflight clearance to a Russian cargo plane carrying nuclear fuel for Bangladesh's Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant on September 24, forcing the shipment to miss its scheduled arrival. The High Commission in Dhaka called the denial a technical issue tied to flight routing and coordination with aviation authorities.
Bangladesh's Minister for Science and Technology Faqir Mahbub Anam said the delay will push the fuel arrival to the first week of October, citing coordination problems with Rosatom. The ministry added that no definitive reason has yet been given by Pakistan.
Rooppur is Bangladesh's first nuclear facility, built with Russian assistance under Rosatom's oversight. The two VVER-1200 reactors will together generate 2,400 megawatts of baseload electricity.
The delay could postpone the plant's commissioning, impacting Bangladesh's energy strategy and its climate commitments. A new flight schedule is expected to be finalized by early October, after securing the necessary airspace clearance.
With the shipment now slated for the first week of October, the country's nuclear programme will need to adjust its commissioning timetable, potentially shifting the operational date of Unit 2 by several weeks.