The Izhora branch of JSC AEM-Technologies (part of the mechanical engineering division of Rosatom – Atomenergomash) has begun manufacture of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) for unit 1 of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant, El Dabaa. Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachevs said this signalled a new way of life in Egypt as the NPP “will provide the country with green sustainable energy for 100 years”. Production of the metal blanks for the RPV began in Kolpino, St Petersburg, in June in the presence of an Egyptian delegation headed by the Chairman of the Egyptian Nuclear Power Plants Authority Amged El-Wakil.
El-Dabaa NPP, Egypt’s first NPP, under construction by Rosatom in Matrouh Governorate on the Mediterranean coast, will comprise four units with generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurised water reactors. The NPP is being constructed in accordance with contracts that entered into force in December 2017 based on an inter-governmental agreement signed by Egypt and Russia in 2015. Russia will supply nuclear fuel throughout the lifecycle of the plant, arrange for the training of the Egyptian personnel, and assist in the operation and maintenance of the plant for the first 10 years. The $30 billion project, is mainly financed through a $25 billion Russian loan. Rosatom will build a special storage facility and deliver casks for storing used nuclear fuel.
Image: The start of production of the RPV for unit 1 of the El Dabaa NPP is marked by Rosatom's Director General Alexei Likhachevs (right) (courtesy of Atomenergomash)
