Russian state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom will begin the construction of Unit 3 of the El Dabaa nuclear power plant in Egypt, laying first concrete into the facility’s foundation on Wednesday.
The construction of the first two power units began in 2022 and, according to Rosatom, it proceeds on schedule. A total of four power units are to be built at the Egyptian site.
El Dabaa NPP is the first nuclear power plant in Egypt. The general designer and general contractor for the construction of the plant is Atomstroyexport (ASE, the engineering division of Rosatom). The NPP is being built in Matrouh Governorate on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, about 300 km northwest of Cairo. The plant will consist of four power units with a capacity of 1,200 MW each, with VVER-1200 type reactors (water-water power reactor) of generation III+. This is the latest generation technology, which already has references and works successfully. Four units with reactors of this generation are operating in Russia: two reactors each at the Novovoronezh and Leningrad nuclear power plants. Outside Russia, one unit with a VVER-1200 reactor was connected to the grid in November 2020 at the Belorussian NPP.
The nuclear power plant in Egypt is being built under a package of contracts that came into force on December 11, 2017. According to the commitments, the Russian side will not only build the plant, but will also supply Russian nuclear fuel for the entire life cycle of the NPP, as well as assist Egyptian partners in personnel training and support in the operation and maintenance of the plant during the first 10 years of its operation. As part of another agreement, a special storage facility will be built and containers will be supplied to store spent nuclear fuel.
In 2021 the Russian side handed over to the Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority all the documentation necessary to obtain a license to build both Units 1 and 2 and Units 3 and 4.
Obtaining a license to construct the nuclear power plant, along with ensuring that the pits are structurally ready, is a condition of proceeding to "first concrete." On March 29, 2023, the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority issued a permit for the construction of Unit 3 of the El Dabaa NPP.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Sabrina Pico/Pixabay
Based on materials from TASS