Russian Rosatom seeks to educate Egyptians about the importance of nuclear energy and answer the questions they have about the importance and benefits of nuclear plants.
Alexey Likhachov, the director general of Rosatom, said that the company is hoping to communicate with opinion leaders and thinkers to arrange a conference over the upcoming period to eliminate nuclear energy illiteracy and provide them with information about the establishment of a nuclear power plant and nuclear safety, especially that the establishment of El Dabaa plant is not new for the companies who have established several other nuclear plants.
Likhachev stressed that the nuclear plant will not pose any danger to the lives of Egyptians and that those who are not specialised must be educated in order to eliminate the wrong perceptions about nuclear plants. He said that Rosatom is not only a centre for scientific research in the nuclear sector, but it is also one that carries a message to sustain peace in the world, which places a global responsibility on its back, especially in terms of contributing to finding solutions for global issues using nuclear energy.
This includes the lack of power supply in some developing countries, in addition to water desalination in some areas that suffer from a shortage of clean water, Likhachov added. He further asserted that 800 million people globally suffer from the lack of fresh water. Likhachev explained that his company has an innovative system to reuse the fuel depleted in some types of power plants using fast neutrons which do the recycling of the fuel. He went on to explain that his company pays attention to the different scenarios for safely dealing with nuclear waste.
He pointed out that the Rosatom has been able to install energy unit number 6 in Novovoronezh nuclear plant to the national electricity grid in August 2016. The new energy unit is the most advanced technologically and generates 240 MW for the national grid. It is considered the first energy unit of the third generation of the VVR with a 1,200 MW capacity. This is the kind of reactors that will be launched in Egypt and will guarantee extra safety that endures even the toughest circumstances. Likhachev noted that the lifespan of a nuclear reactor has become 60 years. He added that Rosatom is not one of the Russian institutions that is being sanctioned by the European Union. “We have already undertaken many main tasks over the past years, with the most prominent one being increasing Rosatom’s share in international markets and reducing the costs of products as well as the period required to implement them and developing new products in the local and international market,” Likhachev said.
Rosatom continues to receive requests to implement projects in a number of countries. For example, Egypt and Russia have both signed an agreement in 2015 to establish the first electricity generation plant from nuclear energy in El Dabaa. It is planned to take place after signing the final contracts. Rosatom has signed a contract to establish and construct a nuclear energy plant in El Dabaa.
“We are currently implementing nuclear energy plant projects in Turkey, Belarus, Hungary, and Finland,” he added. He pointed out that the company is developing its communication with several other continents, noting that Russia is open to everyone from across the world, adding that it is unimaginable to remain isolated from the surrounding world and its issues.
