The Russian state-owned Rosatom company, responsible for implementing the Egyptian nuclear plant in Dabaa, is currently reviewing the initial designs of the project in cooperation with the Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA).
A government source told Daily News Egypt that the Russian company conducted more than 20 studies on the site of Dabaa plant to ensure its validity for the nuclear project. After the Russian company and the NPPA approves the designs, they will be submitted to the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA) for ratification.
The source explained that the design review aims to affirm the safety of the project to avoid any nuclear leakage. The plant’s reactors are equipped with automatic shutdown in case of any technical problem in the plant.
Construction of the Dabaa plant is scheduled to start in the second half (2H) of 2020 after obtaining the construction permission from the NRRA, the source said.
Vice President of Rosatom’s Engineering Sector, Grigory Sosnin, said in an earlier statement that the first concrete to be poured in the plant will be in 2020.
The source added that Rosatom will train 2,000 Egyptian workers on operation, maintenance, and management of nuclear reactors, allowing trainees the chance to visit Russian nuclear plants similar to the proposed one in Egypt.
The source pointed out that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi follows up on the procedures of establishing the Dabaa plant, while there are 40 government agencies engaged in the project.
Al-Sisi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin witnessed the signing of the protocol to start the construction of four nuclear reactors in the Dabaa region with a total capacity of 4,800MW.
