Public awareness and stakeholder involvement for Bangladesh's nuclear power plant

Abstract

Nuclear energy renders itself as one of the sustainable energy sources for power production available now. But the major nuclear accident that occurred in the nuclear industry has shown that the generation of nuclear energy has an inherent risk for the environment and the eco-system. Therefore, members of the public - the principal stakeholders - shall be provided with significant opportunities for their engagement in every phase of construction of the Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). National and regional level public support is very important for the implementation of the first-ever NPP of Bangladesh, the Rooppur NPP (24°4′0″N 89°2′50″E) as well as for the future power plant of the country. This paper analyses public awareness and stakeholder involvement systems in the nuclear energy establishment process in Bangladesh. According to the best international practices settled by the IAEA and national authorities like the Rosatom, this paper recommends certain solutions to the improvement of the public outreach mechanism for the construction of NPP in Bangladesh.

Keywords

• Public participation
• Nuclear regulatory process
• Stakeholder involvement
• Nuclear education
• Public hearings
• Public acceptance