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Egypt and Russia are pushing to accelerate construction of the El Dabaa nuclear power plant (NPP) and keep it on schedule.
Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mahmoud Esmat stressed the need for closer coordination between Egyptian and Russian institutions to deliver the project, Egypt’s first nuclear facility.
Meeting a Russian State Duma delegation in Cairo on Friday, he said El Dabaa was central to Egypt’s peaceful nuclear programme to generate electricity.
The plant is being built in the northern Dabaa area under a 2015 agreement between Cairo and Moscow, with a cost of $25 billion financed through a concessional Russian state loan. Final construction agreements were signed in 2017.
Esmat held talks with a Russian parliamentary delegation led by Nikolai Shulginov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy, which focused on expanding cooperation in clean energy and reviewing progress at the El Dabaa project.
“The talks covered implementation progress, phase timelines, and preparations for transitioning between construction stages. The two sides also reviewed coordination between joint work teams and companies involved in the project.”
El Dabaa will include four nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of 4,800 megawatts (MW), each producing 1,200 megawatts.
The first reactor is due to start operations in 2028, with the remaining units scheduled to follow by 2030, according to the Electricity Ministry.
Last week, Egyptian state-owned contractor Petrojet announced the completion of first components for Tier 4 of the inner containment metal wall for Unit 3 or the first pieces of a key protective steel structure inside the nuclear reactor for El Dabaa.
(Writing by N Saeed; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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