Egyptian NPP at current site can double capacity if necessary - Likhachev

YEKATERINBURG. April 4 (Interfax) - The capacity of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant site under construction in Egypt can be doubled in future if necessary, Rosatom group CEO Alexei Likhachev said on Friday at the AtomSkills professional skills tournament in Yekaterinburg.

"This is the biggest construction site in Africa and, obviously, an unprecedented nuclear project with four units currently being built simultaneously; plus, the site itself has potential to double capacity," he said.

Likhachev said that the facility has a high local content, with most of the building work carried out by Egyptian companies.

"All four units are being constructed in full accordance with the plan and contractual obligations," he said.

The first reactor vessel is scheduled for installation in November.

Rosatom started to pour the first concrete at Unit 4 of Egypt's El Dabaa NPP in late January 2024.

The parties signed the intergovernmental agreement on building Egypt's first NPP, El Dabaa, in November 2015, and signed the engineering, procurement and construction contract at the end of 2016. The NPP design envisages four 1200-MW power units with VVER-1200 reactors.

Construction was initially expected to be completed by 2028-2029.

The first three units of the plant are also under construction. The engineering division of state corporation Rosatom is the general designer and contractor of the plant.