Production of equipment for Egypt's first nuclear power plant El Dabaa has been launched in Russia. This was announced on Wednesday by the press service of the Rosatom state corporation.
"The start-up ceremony of manufacture of blanks for reactor vessel for unit 1 of Egyptian El Dabaa NPP was held at Kolpin production site (AEM-Technology, Rosatom's enterprise - TASS) which manufactures different equipment for nuclear power plants under Rosatom order," the statement reads.
The ceremony took place with participation of an Egyptian delegation headed by Amged El-Wakil, Chairman of the Egyptian Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA). The delegation also included Sami Atallah, Chairman of the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiation Control Authority, and Mohamed Ramadan, NPPA Deputy Chairman.
"Implementation of the project is proceeding on schedule," Rosatom's First Deputy General Director for Atomic Energy Alexander Lokshin said in the report.
The Egyptian nuclear specialists also visited the Leningrad NPP (Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad Region), where they inspected new units with VVER-1200 reactors. The guests were shown the industrial site of the power units with two Generation 3+ reactors commissioned in 2018 and 2021, including the unit control room, the turbine building and the NPP's training center. As noted in the report of the State Corporation, El Dabaa NPP, which will be built by Rosatom's project, will also consist of power units with Russian VVER-1200 reactors of generation 3+ (4 units of 1,200 megawatts each).
Start of the nuclear power plant construction
Lokshin said that the official start of NPP construction in Egypt is planned for the first half of July.
"The formal date is July 11. Maybe a day earlier or a day later. The plan is 11," Lokshin said when asked about the date of the official start of construction of the nuclear power plant.
Amged Al-Wakil, Chairman of the Egyptian Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA), also said that Rosatom may receive a license to build a nuclear power plant in Egypt in the third quarter of 2022. "In the third quarter," the head of the directorate said in response to a related question.
According to him, intensive work with the supervisory body to eliminate all the remarks is underway.
"In terms of the dynamics of work both at the site and in obtaining a permit - we are working day and night. The preparatory stage for the 'first concrete' is now underway at the site," Al-Wakil noted.
El Dabaa NPP is the first nuclear power plant in Egypt to be built on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, about 300 km northwest of Cairo.
The agreement to build the nuclear power plant in Egypt was signed between Moscow and Cairo in November 2015. The contract for engineering, procurement and construction was concluded on December 31, 2016. El Dabaa NPP will consist of four power units with Russian-designed VVER-1200 reactors with a total installed capacity of 4,800 MW of Generation 3+.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Rosatom
Based on materials from TASS