Once completed, the $25 billion plant will have 4 VVER-1200 pressurized water reactors and will be on the Mediterranean coast, about 170km west of Alexandria.
A rite performed on Wednesday on the occasion of the event, in the presence of Mohamed Shaker, Minister of Electricity of Egypt, Amged El-Wakeel, President of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority and Alexey Likhachov, CEO of Rosatom.
Likhachov said: “The beginning of the structure in El-Dabaa means that Egypt has joined the nuclear club. The structure of the nuclear power plant will enable Egypt to succeed at a new point of technological, commercial and educational development. The plant will be the largest assignment of Russian-Egyptian cooperation since the Aswan High Dam.
“Having their own nuclear power industry has been a dream for other Egyptians for more than half a century, and it is a wonderful honor for Rosatom to make that dream come true. “
Shaker added: “The rite commemorating the pouring of the first concrete for Unit 1 is a wonderful emotion for us. The beginning of the large-scale structure of Unit 1 is a historic occasion for Egypt. Political leaders and Egyptian-Russian cooperation have contributed to the implementation of this ambitious task despite the demanding situations posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The project, designed in the 1980s, was approved by Presidents Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Vladimir Putin in December 2017, but the commissioning of the works experienced many delays.
In February 2020, it was decided that three Egyptian companies, Petrojet, Hassan Allam and Arab Contractors, would begin preparatory work (see further reading).
The contract stipulates that Rosatom will finance and build the plant, supply Russian uranium to force it and begin a 10-year program to give Egyptian engineers the skills to run the reactors. The Russian state-owned company will also build a nuclear fuel garage. facilities.
Egypt will start repaying the loan in 2029, at an interest rate of 3%.
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