Disclosing the news, Power and Energy Advisor Tapan Chowdhury told reporters yesterday that the present caretaker government has initiated various moves to resolve the country's nagging power crisis.

His disclosure has come at a time when the country has been experiencing the worst power crisis with 3,200 MW of generation against its demand for over 5,000 MW.

The adviser, however, refrained from detailing the IAEA approval or Bangladesh's plan for the plant.

Official sources said the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), instructed by the government, is considering reviving an old plan to set up a nuclear power plant.

"Capacity of the proposed nuclear power plant is likely to be 600 MW and it will be set up at Ruppur in Dinajpur where about 260 acres of land was acquired before the country's independence," a BAEC official told the news agency.

Another source said a high-powered delegation will visit South Korea next month to attend a conference of the IAEA and discuss the matter with a Korean power company, which offered to invest in the nuclear power plant project.

The source also said an IAEA delegation is now in Dhaka to discuss different nuclear issues with the BAEC officials.

The other countries which got the IAEA approval for setting up nuclear reactor includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Morocco and some small countries in central Asia.

As part of the government move to resolve the persisting power crisis, the advisor said, a high-powered delegation will visit Myanmar to discuss the prospect of setting up a hydropower plant there and thus adding electricity to the national grid.

"We're considering all kinds of possible options to resolve the power crisis," Tapan said after a meeting at the power ministry.

The meeting was convened to discuss the relevant issues on setting up hydropower plants and import of electricity from the neighbouring country.