How Uranium Will Generate Electricity at Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant

Dhaka, Bangladesh || Wednesday, 29 April 2026 || 16 Boishakh 1433

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How Uranium Will Generate Electricity at Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant

Published : Wednesday, 29 April, 2026 at 4:33 PM, Count : 7

How Uranium Will Generate Electricity at Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant

With nuclear fuel loading beginning at the first unit of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Ishwardi, Pabna, Bangladesh has entered the era of nuclear energy, sparking interest in how uranium is used to produce electricity.

What is uranium?

Uranium is a naturally occurring mineral found in rocks and soil. However, raw uranium extracted from mines cannot be used directly for power generation. It must go through several processing stages before being converted into nuclear fuel.

There are two major isotopes of uranium — U-238 and U-235. Of these, U-235 is the key element used in nuclear reactors to generate electricity.

How nuclear fuel is made

For power generation, uranium undergoes an enrichment process to increase the concentration of U-235.

The enriched uranium is then turned into small pellets, each about the size of a pencil eraser. These pellets are placed inside long metal tubes to form fuel rods.

Multiple fuel rods are grouped together to create fuel assemblies, which are loaded into the reactor core. A reactor typically contains hundreds of such fuel assemblies.

Inside the reactor, when a neutron strikes the nucleus of a U-235 atom, it splits in a process known as nuclear fission. This releases a large amount of heat along with additional neutrons.

Those neutrons strike other U-235 atoms, creating a continuous chain reaction that produces heat.

The heat turns water into high-pressure steam, which spins a turbine. The turbine, connected to a generator, then produces electricity.

Experts say the process is similar to coal- or gas-fired power plants, with the main difference being the fuel source.

With fuel loading now underway at Rooppur, Bangladesh has not only joined the group of countries using nuclear energy but has also taken a major step toward long-term energy security.

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