Rosatom expects license to build fourth El Dabaa NPP unit in Egypt by end 2023

MOSCOW. July 18 (Interfax) - Rosatom expects to receive a license to build the fourth generating unit of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant in Egypt by the end of 2023, the state corporation said, citing its CEO Alexei Likhachev.

"Construction of the first three units of the El Dabaa NPP is on schedule. Preparations are underway at the site of the fourth power unit. We expect before the end of this year to receive a license from the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority to build the fourth unit. After that, we will be able to pour the first concrete, which will herald the launch of the main stage of the construction of unit No. 4," Likhachev said.

Rosatom's in-house publication Strana Rosatom reported earlier in July, citing the chairman of Egypt's Nuclear Power Plants Authority, Amgad El-Wakeel, that the first concrete for the El Dabaa fourth generating unit expected to be poured in November 2023. The event is scheduled to coincide with Nuclear Energy Day, which Egypt marks on November 19, the report said.

Russia and Egypt signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of Egypt's first nuclear power plant in November 2015. The engineering, procurement and construction contract for the El Dabaa NPP was signed at the end of 2016. The project calls for building four 1,200 MW generating units with VVER-1200 reactors.

The plans should be built by 2028-2029.

Rosatom started to build the third unit at El Dabaa in May 2023.