The New Nation - Internet Edition

The inaugural ceremony of th 5-day long IAEA/RCA Training Course titled 'In-Situ Analysis of Coal Quality’ jointly organized by Bangladesh Atomic Energy Conunission (BAEC) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began on the 28 October in the Auditorium of Atomic Energy Centre, Dhaka. Tapan Chowdhury, Adviser, Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology was present as the chief guest and S. M. Wahid-Uz-Zaman, Secretary, Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology as Special Guest while Dr. Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan, Chairman of BAEC presided over the meeting. The function was attended, among others, by Engr. Md. Quamruzaman, Member, Engineering, Dr. Md. Mosharraf Hossain, Member, Planning & Development, Dr. Farid Uddin Ahmed, Member, Physical Science, Dr. Sahana Afroz, Member, Bio-Science, Dr. Feroza Alder, Director, International Affairs Division, Dr. Eunus Akon, Director, Nuclear Minerals Unit and Course Co-coordinator Director and AEA expert Dr. Jacek Charbucinski.

Adviser, Tapan Chowdhury in his inaugural speech emphasized on using nuclear technology in coal resources development in the country which will reduce the dependency solely on gas for power generation. To meet the growing energy demand, the coal resources of the country need to be developed in much broader scale. The govemment has attached significant importance on coal sector development. In the National Energy Policy, the coal is identified as important component in the primary energy mix.

S. M. Wahid-uz-Zaman, Secretary, Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology in his speech said that at present the country is relying on indigenous natural gas for 87 pc of electricity generation. However, the natural gas reserve is depleting faster than previously planned, and beyond 2015 it would be difficult to dedicate natural gas for new power plants. Currently, the country has coal-fired power plant of 250 MW capacity. To increase the share of electricity generation our coal resources need to be developed urgently. He hoped that the training course will definitely expand the domain of nuclear technology in various fields including coal and mineral resources development.

Dr. Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan, Chairman, BAEC said that the nuclear technology has been recognized by our govemment as one of the decisive factors for development and poverty alleviation. He further said that nuclear technique in coal exploitation, coal mining, coal industrial process can offer significant commercial and environmental benefits. In this context, he said that atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values where the contribution of the coal is the biggest.