BANGLADESH

Handling nuclear power is one thing and ensuring day-to-day normal flow of electricity an entirely different one, both practically and figuratively.

And hammering the point is the case of Atomic Energy Centre Dhaka under Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), which has signed an MoU with Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation – Rosatom – for setting up a 600-1000MW power plant in Bangladesh.

The centre in Dhaka University area went out of power on Sep 13 due to a cable burn. Although the cable was fixed on Sunday, after 20 days, authorities at the centre say electricity is yet to be restored due to a transformer blast.

According to them, the centre is 'controlled' by the head office, BAEC. "The BAEC engineers are trying hard. Mr Chairman was out of the country," director Muhammad Ali told bdnews24.com without explaining why it took so many days to repair a cable.

Scientists would not talk to bdnews24.com as director of the centre forbade.

However, preferring anonymity they said the power cut would cause colossal damage to the centre that provides analytical services like measuring radioactivity in exported and imported food items, and licences to the hospitals and clinics for radiation installations like x-ray machines.

"If testing mechanism standards change due to lack of refrigeration, then it would give errors in analytical services," they said, adding, "a wrong measurement could cancel an export order, earning bad name to Bangladesh".

They held authorities responsible for the undue delay in restoration of electricity.

On a visit to the centre on Sunday, bdnews24.com correspondent found the laboratories closed and the office staff was seen chatting in various rooms to while away the time.

When asked, whether he contacted the chairman, Ali chose not to reply.

He, however, claimed the power cut is not hampering their activities, rather "it's saving government electricity".

"Emergency activities are being carried out in Savar centre while I have personally instructed scientists to preserve their chemicals wherever they can," the director said.

"But we are trying to restore power," he said, adding efforts are on to hire a transformer to restore electricity quickly.

A scientist told bdnews24.com that the director in their meeting said he could not connect to the chairman abroad.

Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Abu Sayeed Mohammad Firoz told bdnews24.com on Sunday that he returned on Thursday. "Today we had an emergency meeting and hope electricity would be restored shortly."

He, however, said the government procurement system might cause further delay in getting a new transformer.

"Our people tried hard," he said when asked why it took 20 days to restore electricity. "I returned on Sep 30."

He said he had been in a meeting in Vienna, the capital of Austria, from Sep 14 to Sep 29.