Egypt and Russia Discuss Possibility of Expanding El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 11, Alexey Likhachev, CEO of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi discussed the possibility of adding more generating units at the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant in Egypt.

Likhachev said the two sides discussed arrangements for the next phase of the project, that nuclear fuel supply has been included in next year's plan, and that the top priority is to advance work related to the technical startup of Unit 1. He said that in addition to the four reactors currently under construction, the El Dabaa site has the capacity to accommodate roughly a comparable number of additional reactors, and that this expansion direction was precisely what the two sides discussed.

Likhachev said Rosatom is ready to advance the expansion work at the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant, and that the idea has Russian support. During the formal talks, el-Sisi expressed gratitude to Russian nuclear power construction personnel for their work in Egypt, and expressed hope for continued implementation of existing agreements and expansion of follow-up cooperation. The two sides also discussed future cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, as well as continuing talks on joint projects.

According to Likhachev, Russia and Egypt are also exploring potential cooperation areas such as floating nuclear power plants and localized construction of small nuclear power plants. One of the current priorities of nuclear energy cooperation between the two countries is supplying nuclear fuel for the four units of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant, with the first batch of nuclear fuel planned for delivery to Egypt in 2027.

The El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant is located about 350 kilometers west of Cairo and is planned to have four units, all using Russian VVER-1200 reactors. This reactor type belongs to Generation III+ nuclear power technology. The project has a total installed capacity of nearly 4.8 gigawatts, with the engineering division of Rosatom serving as the general designer and general contractor. This is the first nuclear power plant construction project implemented by Rosatom in Africa.

Units 1 and 2 of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant began construction in 2022, with only four months between the first concrete pours for the two units. Unit 3 began construction in 2023, and Unit 4 began construction in January 2024.