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AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec

Egypt to issue construction

licence for El Dabaa NPP in 2021

Development of the Russian-financed reactors is continuing as planned
despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, writes Richard Lockhart

EGYPT RUSSIA’S Rosatom said that it expected to El Dabaa will have a nameplate capacity of 4.8
receive a construction licence from the Egyp- GW and is predicted to account for up to 50%
WHAT: tian government for the first unit at the El Dabaa of Egypt’s power generation capacity to meet the
Rosatom is to receive the nuclear power plant (NPP) in the second half of country’s increasing demand for electricity.
construction licence for 2021.
the 4.8-GW El Dabaa NPP “Head of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority Project development
in H2-2021 (NPPA) of Egypt Amjad Al-Wakeel confirmed Russia and Egypt signed an inter-governmental
that the issue of the licence for the construction agreement in November 2015 to build the Afri-
WHY: of the first unit of the El Dabaa NPP from the can country’s first NPP.
Rosatom is making slow Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory The $25bn facility is expected to consist of
but sure progress through Authority (ENRRA) is expected in the second four Russian-designed third-generation VVER
the approvals process half of 2021. The licence will make it possible to reactors, each with 1,200 MW of capacity. The
begin preparations for the pouring of concrete reactors are designed to withstand being hit by
WHAT NEXT: for the unit’s foundations,” Rosatom said in its an aircraft weighing 400 tonnes and flying at a
The $25bn project is to be corporate magazine. speed of 150 metres per second.
85% financed by Russia, Rosatom’s statement is just the latest step in Such safety levels are now becoming the
the first reactor opening the project’s approval process. In April 2019, the global norm because of the Fukushima disaster
in 2026 NPPA, the Egyptian government body that is in 2011.
managing the project and that will operate the The power plant will be built near the city of
NPP when completed, received a site permit for El Alamein on Egypt’s northern coast, 3.5 km
the plant from the ENRRA. away from the Mediterranean Sea.
The NPPA had already lodged its official The project will be funded by Russian invest-
request for the construction permit on March ment, following Rosatom’s well-established
10, 2019, Al-Wakeel said last week. model of providing a package of financing, com-
This effectively approved the designs supplied ponents and expertise, as well as fuel supplies
by Rosatom and the environmental impact state- and maintenance for the life of the plant.
ment carried out by the NPPA. For example, Rosatom said in November that

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