Egypt launches construction of 1st nuclear power plant

CAIRO, Egypt

Egypt on Tuesday launched the construction of the fourth and final reactor in the country’s first nuclear power plant.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin virtually attended the pouring of the new reactor in the Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant (DNPP), the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported.

Sisi termed the construction of the new reactor as a “new achievement in bilateral cooperation with Russia.”

“The fourth unit of the nuclear station allows Egypt to begin the next phase of building nuclear reactors,” he added.

Putin, for his part, said the DNPP is one of the most important projects that contribute to boosting the Egyptian economy and energy generation.

Located in Dabaa in northwestern Egypt, the DNPP is being built by Russia’s state nuclear power company Rosatom.

The power plant will include four reactors with a capacity of 1.2 GW each.

Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) and Rosatom began building the first and second reactors in 2022 and laid the foundation for the third reactor in May 2023.

The total cost of the nuclear power plant is estimated at $30 billion.

Egypt expects the power plant to be fully operational by 2030.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar