El Dabaa, Egypt’s first nuclear station, will have four Russia-supplied Generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurised water reactors, with the first unit expected to be online in 2026.
On 31 October, the Nuclear and Radiological Regulation Authority of Egypt issued the construction permit for Unit 2 of El Dabaa. Construction of Unit 1 began on 20 July 2022.
The El Dabaa nuclear site is about 300 km northwest of the Egyptian capital Cairo on the country’s Mediterranean coast. The nuclear station will be second in both Africa and the Arab world upon completion.
According to earlier reports, Russia has agreed to lend Egypt $25bn (€24bn) for the construction of El Dabaa, which would constitute about 85% of the total cost of the project.
Under intergovernmental agreements on the project from 2015 and 2017, Russia will support for the first 10 years the operation, servicing and personnel training for El Dabaa. Russia will also take care of the back-end cycle related to the station’s operation.
