Permit to build 1st reactor at Egypt's Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant issued

CAIRO – 29 June 2022: The Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority announced Wednesday the issuance of the permit to build the first reactor at Al Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant.

The request to establish the first two reactors, out of four, was submitted to the authority on January 1, 2019. Since then and until June 2021, the necessary safety report was being prepared, ensuring the availability of qualified workers, safety features in the design and site, and means of conducting safety tests.

The results of such tests are compared against the criteria of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Russia, given that Rosatom is the company implementing the project.

After the authority had ensured that the site is ready for commencing the construction and that no risks shall impact humans, environment or properties, the permit was approved.

CEO of Alexey Likhachev stated in January that the construction of the first power unit at the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant in Egypt was scheduled to start in July.

In December, the head of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority in Egypt, Amgad Al-Wakeel, said that the Dabaa nuclear plant would be operating at a full capacity of 4,800 megawatts by 2030.

In statements to Egyptian media, he indicated that the first nuclear reactor with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts will be operated to generate electricity according to the schedule of the commercial project in 2020, pointing out that the rest of the reactors will be operated successively to be operated at their full capacity in 2030.

In December 2017, Egypt and Russia signed an agreement to start work on the El Dabaa nuclear plant project.

It is noteworthy that Russia and Egypt signed in November 2015 an agreement on cooperation in the field of building and operating the first nuclear power plant in Egypt with Russian technology, worth $26 billion, to build a four-unit nuclear plant.

The agreement includes the construction of a nuclear plant in the Dabaa region, comprising 4 units, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts. The construction of the nuclear plant is expected to be completed within 12 years, according to the company's statement.

The project is scheduled to generate net revenues of $264 billion for the state treasury over 60 years, which is the lifespan of the reactors used at the plant.