El Dabaa construction licence application submitted

Thursday, 1 July 2021

"Since the launch of the Egyptian nuclear project under the auspices of the political leadership, we have spared no effort in implementing the successive commitments related to the project's development," Amged El-Wakeel, board chairman of NPPA, said. Submission of the documents for the permit application follows extensive joint work by NPPA and Rosatom's engineering subsidiary ASE, he added. "Today, we are proud of the completion of this work to the highest quality standards, fulfilling local and international requirements."

"Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Russian and Egyptian teams, the challenging task of documentation agreement was promptly accomplished, taking into account the technical requirements of the EPC Ccontract and adaptation to the site conditions," added Grigory Sosnin, ASE's director of the El-Dabaa NPP construction project.

The first nuclear power plant in Egypt will be built in El-Dabaa city in the Governorate of Matrouh on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It will comprise four VVER-1200 units, like those in operation at the Leningrad and Novovoronezh nuclear power plants in Russia, and the Ostrovets nuclear power plant in Belarus that was connected to the grid in November 2020.

The El Dabaa nuclear power plant project is based on contracts that entered into force on 11 December 2017. These stipulate that Rosatom will not only build the plant, but will also supply Russian nuclear fuel for its entire life cycle. They will also assist Egyptian partners in training personnel and plant maintenance for the first 10 years of its operation. Rosatom is also contracted to build a special storage facility and supply containers for storing used nuclear fuel.