Monday, 10 March 2025
The second tier of the cylindrical building, which houses the reactor and primary circuit equipment, consists of 12 segments, each 12 metres long and 14 metres high, weighing more than 60 tonnes. They were manufactured on site. When the inner containment is complete it will be surrounded by a similar shaped, but larger, outer containment building with a domed roof.
The installation work lasted from 16 February to 4 March and involved two teams of specialists, each consisting of more than 80 people, with a giant crane used. The height of the inner containment building is now more than 20 metres.
Alexey Kononenko, vice president of ASE and director of the El Dabaa NPP construction project, said: “It is important to note that this event was implemented ahead of schedule due to close cooperation between the Egyptian and Russian parties, as well as the use of advanced engineering solutions … this achievement opens up the horizon for us to work on reinforcement and formwork installation with subsequent concreting of the second tier of the containment system, which is one of the key events of 2025 for power unit No 2.”
The inner containment, during the installation phase (Image: Rosatom)
Mohamed Dowidar, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority for Electricity Generation, stated that “this vital project is not just an engineering achievement, but rather a testament to the strong will of Egyptian experts and engineers and their ability to achieve successes and progress in various fields” with the progress made “as a result of the combined efforts” of the Egyptian and Russian teams working on the project.
The background
El Dabaa will be Egypt’s first nuclear power plant, and the first in Africa since South Africa’s Koeberg was built nearly 40 years ago. The Rosatom-led project, about 320 kilometres north-west of Cairo, will comprise four VVER-1200 units, like those already in operation at the Leningrad and Novovoronezh nuclear power plants in Russia, and the Ostrovets plant in Belarus.
Under the 2017 contracts, Rosatom will not only build the plant, but will also supply Russian nuclear fuel for its entire life cycle, including building a storage facility and supplying containers for storing used nuclear fuel. It will also assist Egyptian partners in training personnel and plant maintenance for the first 10 years of its operation. Rosatom said last month that it is aiming for a future service life of 100 years for nuclear power plants.
The four units are being built almost concurrently, with first concrete at unit 1 in July 2022, followed in turn by the others, concluding with first concrete at unit 4 in January 2024. Egypt’s aim is for 9% of electricity to be generated by nuclear by 2030, which would be achieved by the commercial operation of the first two units by that time, directly displacing oil and gas.
