Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power participates in construction of Egypt’s Dabaa NPP

CAIRO – 25 August 2022:  The Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. Ltd.(KHNP) will participate in the construction project of the El Dabaa NPP, the first nuclear power plant in Egypt, announced the South Korean embassy in a statement.

The Egyptian Nuclear Power Plant Authority had announced the tender for the El Dabaa NPP, which consists of four power units with an electrical output of 1200 MW respectively.

The Russian ASE JSC (Atomstroyexport, JSC) won this tender and KHNP will participate in the construction of power generation facilities (Turbine Island) for the El Dabaa NPP by signing the contract on August 25 with ASE, the main implementing company for the project, the statement added.

The Korean Ambassador in Cairo Mr. Hong Jin Wook praised KHNP's participation in the El Dabaa NPP project as another achievement in entering the NPP market outside Korea after winning the tender for Barakah NPP project in the United Arab Emirates.

He expressed his hope that the participation of the Korean company in this project will be a symbolic achievement for the future-oriented cooperation between Korea and Egypt in the fields of economy and energy, pointing out that the El Dabaa project is one of the core projects in the Egyptian government’s efforts to secure the electric power supply and to expand the renewable energy sector.

Korea and Egypt have been working on deepening and enhancing bilateral cooperation in all fields including political, economic, and cultural fields since the establishment of the "comprehensive cooperative partnership" between the two nations in March 2016.

The two countries are witnessing the consolidation of comprehensive and mutually beneficial cooperation through a series of joint development projects, including the participation in the El Dabaa NPP, as well as the joint production contract for the K9 howitzer last February and the joint production contract for the Cairo metro train in August.

Ambassador Hong said that Korea is actively seeking to expand the scope of its contribution to the development of the nuclear industry in the Middle East and the African continent in the coming years, starting with its participation in the El Dabaa NPP, hoping that Korea’s reliable supply network in nuclear energy will contribute significantly to the successful implementation of the El-Dabaa project.

On June 29, 2022, the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority announced 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.