Rosatom Starts Constructing 1st Unit at Dabaa Nuclear Plant in July 2022

The CEO of the Russian Nuclear Energy Corporation " Rosatom", Alexei Likhachev, said that the construction of the first power unit at the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant in Egypt is scheduled to begin in July of this year.

Egypt is building its first peaceful nuclear plant, with the participation of Russia, in the Dabaa area in the northwestern part of the country.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority to generate electricity in Egypt, Dr. Amgad Al-Wakeel, said yesterday, Monday, in statements to “Sputnik”, a Russian news agency, that “the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Control Authority has received all requests to issue a construction permit for the four units of the El-Dabaa nuclear plant.”

Al-Wakeel noted that permission to establish the first and second units is expected to be issued in the second half of 2022."

Rosatom, the Russian state-run corporation for the use of peaceful nuclear energy, announced last week that it had handed over to Egypt the documents for obtaining a license to build the second phase of the Dabaa nuclear power plant.

The Russian corporation revealed that documents are for the third and fourth power units.

"Once the construction permit is issued, large-scale work will begin on the site of the country's first nuclear power plant," the Russian company said.

On November 19, 2015, Egypt and Russia signed a joint cooperation agreement to establish a nuclear power plant at Dabaa, according to which Egypt obtained a Russian loan, worth $25 billion, to build the project.

In December 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signed the final contracts for the construction of the Dabaa nuclear plant, during Putin’s visit to Cairo.

The Dabaa plant includes 4 nuclear reactors, with a total capacity of 4800 MW, with 1200 MW each, installed with "3+ reactors" (pressurized water reactors); the first reactor is to be commissioned in 2026.