Russia's construction of a nuclear power plant in Egypt is ahead of schedule

The construction of the El Dabaa nuclear power plant (NPP) in Egypt with the assistance of the Russian state corporation Rosatom is on schedule and even ahead of schedule. This was stated by Alexei Kononenko, director of the NPP construction project, vice president of Rosatom's engineering division Atomstroyexport, at the forum "Development of Nuclear Industry in Egypt" in Cairo on December 2.

"We are going in accordance with the schedule, there are some localized advancements. For example, we installed a melt trap (melt localization device. - Ed.) on the fourth power unit ahead of schedule - four months earlier," RIA Novosti reports his words.

Kononenko noted the positive speed of construction. According to him, construction and installation works are now being actively carried out at each of the four power units of El Dabaa.

Russia and Egypt signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the El Dabaa nuclear power plant in November 2015. Work on the first power unit of the NPP began in July 2022, and on the second - in November.

Later, on August 31, 2023, Rosatom received a license for the construction of the fourth unit. On November 19, installation of the melt localization device (melt trap) - one of the main elements of passive safety systems - began at the construction site of the second power unit.

The NPP will have four power units with Russian VVER-1200 reactor units. The total capacity of the plant will amount to almost 4.8 GW. Construction of all four units is planned to be completed by 2028-2029.

On October 25, Rosatom received an offer from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to build a second nuclear power plant in the country. On October 7, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Russia was studying the possibility of building a second nuclear power plant in Turkey at the Sinop site and was preparing an optimal decision on the project.