“Officials at Bangladesh’s Rooppur plant say a single working reactor could save the country about $1 billion a year in fuel imports. That plan took its biggest step yet on Sunday, when the plant’s first unit achieved criticality at 15:34, sustaining a nuclear chain reaction for the first time in Bangladesh’s history.

Criticality does not yet mean electricity. The reactor now runs at minimum controlled power while engineers confirm its stability and run tests in sequence. Output will then rise in stages. Rosatom has scheduled the power start-up for November 20, and officials aim to begin feeding the national grid in late November. Commissioning follows International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines.

Inside the plant, heat from fission will turn water into high-pressure steam that drives turbines connected to generators. Unit 2 is already moving forward: its first nuclear fuel consignment arrived on October 3.”

From Technology.org.