By Amr Galal and Hassan El-Khawaga
CAIRO, Dec. 30 (SEE) - Vice President for the nuclear project in Egypt at Atomstroyexport (Engineering Division of Rosatom) Grigory Sosnin said the engineering surveys of the construction site of El Dabaa Nuclear Planet Project (NPP) had been finished.
In an interview with SEE, Sosnin noted that by January 2019 all the required approvals will be granted to begin in preliminary construction works in the site, pointing out that on October 30, Atomstroyexport officially opened an office in Cairo to accelerate coordination with the Egyptian side.
Here is full SEE interview:
- What is the role of Rosatom Cairo office in implementing El Dabaa Nuclear Project?
Opening the new office in Cairo was an urgent need because establishing the greatest nuclear project in Africa requires high-level of coordination between the Egyptian and Russian institutions to finish the project in the fixed time.
Inaugurating the office falls within a framework of boosting the bilateral ties and settle all the cases related to the project in a quick time.
El Dabaa NPP project includes the construction of four VVER-1200 generation 3+ units in the Matrouh area on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, the supply of Russian nuclear fuel for the entire life cycle of the nuclear power plant. Rosatom will also conduct personnel training and will assist its Egyptian partners in the operation and maintenance of the El Dabaa NPP for the first ten years of its operation. As part of yet another contract, the Russian side will construct a purpose-built storage and supply containers for storing spent fuel.
- What are the latest developments in the NPP project?
The engineering surveys had been prepared and handed over to the Egyptian side in order to get the international licenses. In January 2019 all the required approvals will be granted to begin in preliminary construction works in the site.
In 2020, the first concrete base will be poured and in conjunction with this Rosatom plans to train 2000 Egyptians on maintenance and operation. By the end of 2019 until the beginning of 2022, the operational staff is scheduled to be trained but the maintenance staff is set to be trained in 2024.
- I want to congratulate you on Rosatom's screening its documentary "Wild Edens' in Cairo which sheds light on climate change issue worldwide. What are the environmental dangers that you think that they threaten our planet?
Wild Edens clarifies the crisis of global warming and shows the dangers of CO2 emissions from high carbon energy sources. The documentary also shows the extraordinary beauty of landscapes of Russia and the world. So, we spot the light on the importance of building the nuclear reactors as a clean and safe source of energy.
- How nuclear reactors could be a safe source of energy given that they are exposed to terror attacks, natural disasters, and leakage radiation as it happened over the past years?
Unfortunately, nuclear energy is being prejudged by mistaken terms, myths, and misunderstanding. But it is known that nuclear, wind and solar energy are sources of clean energy that aims to reduce the CO2 emissions in the air.
Regarding safety, El Dabaa NPP has the most modern safety methods from the generation III+ which proved that it could pass several stress tests and overcome any critical circumstances.
- Aren't you afraid of the repetition of Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters?
Chernobyl and Fukushima scenarios couldn't be repeated for many reasons. Firstly, the provided technology for the world and Egypt is completely different as it is a new generation compared with the technology used in the Chernobyl case.
Secondly, the security systems of the energy units of the modern Russian reactors could operate in light of accident-free operation system such as power outage which happened in the Fukushima case.
The new generation of Rosatom reactors offers security systems against natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and aircraft accidents. It also doesn't require the interference of humans.
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