Airspace closed to nuclear fuel shipment bound for Bangladesh's Rooppur plant
Pakistan declined to grant a uranium shipment permission to cross its airspace, without announcing clear reasons, delaying the arrival of uranium for the second unit of Bangladesh's Rooppur plant. Bangladesh's Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Science and Technology, Sheikh Muhammad Tawhid Islam, said the country had prepared to receive a nuclear fuel shipment from Russia on 24 September 2026, but the arrival was not completed and Rosatom informed the competent authorities. Bangladesh and Russia are awaiting a new date for the shipment, while the Bangladeshi Minister of Science and Technology, Faqir Mahbub Anam, said Russia and Rosatom proposed that the uranium shipment could arrive in the first week of October.
Why it matters: The delay bears on energy security, since Bangladesh relies on the plant's output to meet domestic demand while facing gas shortages that affect the power sector.