The “First Concrete” pouring ceremony at unit 4 of Egypt’s El-Dabaa nuclear power plant took place recently marking the beginning of the main stage of construction. El-Dabaa is the maiden NPP in Egypt and the largest in the African continent. Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division is the General Contractor of the project.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, President of Egypt attended the ceremony through videoconference. Moustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt, Alexey Likhachev, Director General of the Rosatom State Corporation, Dr. Mohamed Shaker, the Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy of Egypt, Dr. Amged El-Wakeel, Board Chairman of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority was physically present among others.

Alexey Likhachev, in his address, noted: “Construction of the Egyptian NPP becomes the largest bilateral cooperation project since the construction of the Aswan Dam. Now all four power units of the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant are under construction. This means that our Egypt site is becoming one of the two largest nuclear construction projects in the world.”

El-Dabaa NPP is the first nuclear power plant in Egypt and consists of four power units, each of 1200 MW capacity. Generation III+ VVER-1200 reactors have been chosen for all four units. Russia is not only constructing the power plant but will also supply nuclear fuel for the whole life cycle of the NPP and will provide assistance to the Egyptian partners in training the personnel and operational support and services during the first 10 years of its operation. Under a separate agreement, the Russia will build a special storage and will supply containers for storing spent nuclear fuel.