Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Egypt has received one of the most critical components for its first nuclear power plant, marking a major milestone in the country’s flagship nuclear energy project.
The Egyptian Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) announced the arrival of the reactor pressure vessel for the first unit of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant at the newly built El Dabaa Specialised Port on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.
In a statement, the NPPA described the reactor vessel as “one of the most important components of the nuclear reactor,” explaining that it houses the reactor core where controlled nuclear fission reactions occur. The authority noted that the vessel is designed to withstand extremely high pressure and temperatures while ensuring complete containment, making it a cornerstone of the plant’s nuclear safety system.
The massive steel structure, weighing more than 330 tons, was manufactured at the Izhora plant of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom. It was shipped from St. Petersburg in early October aboard a specialized cargo vessel, arriving at El Dabaa after a 20-day voyage.
Dr. Sherif Helmy, head of the NPPA, said the component had been offloaded onto a dedicated heavy cargo quay built to receive major reactor parts. He added that installation is scheduled to begin in mid-November, in line with the project’s implementation timetable.
Aleksei Kononenko, deputy head of Atomstroyexport the engineering arm of Rosatom and the main contractor for the project, described the vessel’s delivery as a “landmark event” in the construction of the El Dabaa plant. He said the upcoming installation of the pressure vessel would be “the most significant achievement of the year,” highlighting the strong cooperation between Egypt and Russia.
Located in the coastal city of El Dabaa in Matrouh Governorate, about 300 kilometers northwest of Cairo, the plant is Egypt’s first nuclear power facility. It will feature four Generation III+ pressurized water reactors with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts 1,200 megawatts each.
The El Dabaa project stems from a landmark 2015 agreement between Egypt and Russia to develop the country’s first nuclear power plant, with financing and technical support from Rosatom. The contracts officially entered into force in December 2017, during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Cairo.
Construction work began in 2022, and the first reactor is expected to go online by 2028, with the remaining units to follow in subsequent years.
Egyptian officials have hailed the project as a cornerstone of the country’s long-term energy strategy, aimed at diversifying power generation sources and meeting rising electricity demand while reducing carbon emissions.
Experts say the successful delivery and installation of the first reactor vessel mark a crucial step forward in the project’s timeline, underscoring Egypt’s growing role in the region’s nuclear energy development.
