El-Dabaa NPP Advances Nuclear Energy Development In Africa

Rosatom has installed the reactor pressure vessel at Unit 2 of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant, marking another milestone in the construction of the four-unit El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant.

The reactor pressure vessel was installed in its designated position at Unit 2 during a ceremony attended by Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mahmoud Esmat, and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi.

Located on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast in Matrouh Governorate, the El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant will be the country’s first nuclear power station.

The facility will comprise four power units, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts (MW), equipped with Russian-designed Generation III+ VVER-1200 reactors.

Prime Minister Madbouly said the project was one of Egypt’s largest national infrastructure developments and would help advance the country’s long-term energy strategy under Egypt Vision 2030.

The reactor pressure vessel is a key component of the nuclear reactor, housing the reactor core where the controlled nuclear fission process takes place.

Its installation at Unit 2 allows construction to move to the next phase, including welding of the main coolant pipeline.

“Construction of the El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant is progressing at an excellent pace. Just seven months ago, we installed the reactor pressure vessel at Unit 1, and today we are carrying out the same operation at Unit 2,” Likhachev said.

“This milestone enables us to move on to the next key stage – the welding of the main coolant pipeline.”

The reactor pressure vessel weighs more than 340 tonnes and was installed using a 1,350-tonne crawler crane. Rosatom said the component was positioned with an accuracy of one-tenth of a millimetre.

The installation brings Unit 2 closer to the physical start-up stage, when nuclear fuel is loaded into the reactor for the first time.

Under the agreement, Russia will build the plant, supply nuclear fuel throughout its operating life, train Egyptian operating personnel, provide technical support during the plant’s first 10 years of operation, and help establish infrastructure for spent nuclear fuel storage.

The project comes as interest in nuclear power grows across Africa. Ghana is pursuing a civilian nuclear power programme as part of its long-term energy strategy, and experience gained from the El-Dabaa project could inform future nuclear developments elsewhere on the continent.