The nuclear conundrum for developing countries: are they ready yet?

In 2012 Bangladesh, against strong public opinion, decided to build the country's first nuclear power plant in the western region of Rooppur. The government argued that the project is necessary to diversify the country's energy mix in order to improve its electricity generation capacity. This commentary explores the Rooppur nuclear power plant project and argues that there are serious concerns about the project that should be taken into account by the government and that there are other options available to diversify the energy mix. The author concludes that a developing country such as Bangladesh is not yet ready for nuclear power as sufficient technical and regulatory expertise and improvement of infrastructure are required before the country can go nuclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]