Discussions are on for India to join the Russia-led Rooppur nuclear power plant construction in Bangladesh, an official of the Russian atomic power agency Rosatom said on Thursday.

“There is room for cooperation and there is a possibility of India’s participation. There was an initiative to have a trilateral document and we supported that document. No document is signed yet and it is under negotiation,” the official told reporters.

Russia is building two reactors of 1,200 MW each at Rooppur in Bangladesh and India has expressed its keenness to join the project.

Work launched

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally launched the main construction work of the Rooppur plant on Thursday morning. It is the country’s first nuclear power plant.

As it is not a member of the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), India cannot directly take part in the construction of nuclear power plants but has individual agreements with Bangladesh and Russia.

In December 2014, India and Russia signed the “Strategic Vision for Strengthening Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy”, which allows the two sides to “explore opportunities for sourcing materials, equipment and services from Indian industry for the construction of Russian-designed nuclear power plants in third countries”.

“India has experience in installation of reactors. It can provide some training [to Bangladesh],” the official said.