Egypt prepares to lay concrete for the 1st nuclear reactor at Dabaa Plant

CAIRO – 26 April 2022: The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, represented by the Nuclear Power Plants Authority, is preparing to start work on pouring concrete for the first nuclear reactor to generate electricity with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts at the Dabaa plant.

This move is expected to take place next month as soon as the construction permit is issued by the Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority.

Amjad Al-Wakeel, head of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority, confirmed that the foundation pit for the first unit of the Dabaa nuclear plant has been determined with a capacity of 1200 MW out of a total of 4800 MW, stressing that the foundation pit for the first unit is ready to start work on arranging concrete preparation for the buildings of the nuclear island.

Al-Wakeel added that the preparatory work continues on the site to construct the infrastructure and the foundations of the station, pointing out that a berth will be operated to receive the large and heavy equipment of the nuclear plant very soon.

“The establishment of the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant is an embodiment of the long-term dream of the Egyptian people about peaceful nuclear energy,” said Al-Wakeel, stressing that the Egyptian and Russian work teams are able to deal with all the specific tasks professionally and with the highest standards of safety and quality.

He said that the authority submitted a request on December 31 last year for the construction permit for units 3 and 4 of the Dabaa nuclear power plant to the Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority, revealing that all documents and documents were completed in accordance with Article No. (13) of the executive regulations of the law regulating nuclear and radiological activities No. ( 7) for the year 2010, as the request for construction permission for the first and second units was made on the 29th of last June.

Al-Wakeel explained that it is expected that a construction permit for the Dabaa site for the first and second units will be issued within the next month, noting that a construction permit was submitted on March 10, 2019 to start the construction of the 4800MW nuclear power plant in El-Dabaa.

The Nuclear Regulatory Authority and Radioactive is the authority competent to issue a construction approval permit to start laying concrete foundations for the first reactor with a capacity of 1200 megawatts.

Al-Wakeel further added that the first nuclear reactor with a capacity of 1200 megawatts will be operated to generate electricity according to the commercial project schedule in 2028, pointing out that the rest of the reactors will be operated successively at full capacity in 2030 to reach the total capacity generated from nuclear energy on the national electricity grid 4800 megawatt.

Al-Wakeel said that the manufacture of the first long-term equipment for the Egyptian nuclear power plant project, the Core Catcher, has begun, stressing that it will be completed within 36 months.

Al-Wakeel confirmed that the four reactors at the El-Dabaa nuclear plant will be of the type of VVER 1200 reactors of the 3rd generation, which are equipped with the latest safety systems, explaining that additional safety standards have been added so that it has an unprecedented ability to resist huge accidents, and it can respond to the collision of a 400-ton aircraft. Its speed is 150 meters per second.

He added that the Dabaa nuclear power plant with a capacity of 4800 megawatts is considered environmentally friendly and enjoys the highest standards of nuclear safety, in addition to that the project won the second best project in the world,

The governmental agreement between Egypt and Russia represented by the Russian company Rosatom stipulates the establishment of the nuclear plant’s reactors of the third generation. This generation has a simple and reliable design, and is resistant to operator error "the human factor".