Work begins on El Dabaa 2's inner containment building

Monday, 30 September 2024

The inner containment building is a cylindrical reinforced concrete structure which houses the nuclear reactor and the primary circuit equipment of the nuclear power plant. It has a domed roof and will be surrounded by a similar shaped, but larger, outer containment building.

The inner containment building consists of 12 leaf-type segments, each weighing between 60 and 80 tonnes, with the first segment installed on Thursday, 26 September. The installation of the first tier of the inner containment building for unit 1 took place between March and May this year.

Mohamed Dwiddar, project manager of the El Dabaa nuclear power plant, described it as "a new milestone in the continuous progress of the construction works - this achievement is a result of the combined efforts of the Egyptian team represented by the Nuclear Power Plants Authority in its capacity of the owner, and the Russian team represented by Atomstroyexport".

ASE JSC's Alexey Kononenko, director of the El Dabaa NPP Construction Project, said: "Today we are moving on to a new stage of the construction works ... our international team has done a tremendous job for this purpose ... it is a great pleasure to acknowledge the close cooperation between both the Russian and Egyptian parties - currently, we are building all four units of the NPP simultaneously, ensuring overall development of the construction site of the nuclear power plant”.

Among the work taking place for the other units, this week also saw Rosatom's AEM-Special Steels machine building division begin work on the reactor vessel for El Dabaa's unit 4.

_{(Image: Rosatom)}

The metallurgists smelted 192 tonnes of metal. After casting, the metal was treated outside the furnace and then cooled in a vacuum chamber for two days to 550-650 degrees Celsius, Rosatom said, adding: "To give the billet the desired shape and dimensions, the ingot is then transferred to the forging, pressing and mechanical-thermal shops."

El Dabaa will be Egypt's first nuclear power plant, and the first in Africa since South Africa's Koeberg was built nearly 40 years ago. The Rosatom-led project is about 320 kilometres north-west of Cairo and will comprise four VVER-1200 units, like those already in operation at the Leningrad and Novovoronezh nuclear power plants in Russia, and the Ostrovets plant in Belarus.

Rosatom will not only build the plant, but will also supply Russian nuclear fuel for its entire life cycle. It 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. Construction of the nuclear power plant began in July 2022.