CAIRO - 12 September 2019: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met with CEO of Russia's Rosatom State Atomiс Energy Corporation Alexey Likhachev on Thursday and discussed the latest developments of Egypt’s first under-construction nuclear power plant along the Mediterranean city of Dabaa, stated presidential spokesperson Bassam Radi.
The meeting was attended by Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker, Chairman of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority Amgad el-Wakeel, and representatives of Roseatom, Radi added. The president affirmed Egypt's aspiration to continue cooperation with the company to establish Dabaa NPP in accordance with the highest international standards and terms of nuclear safety and security, Radi stressed.
Likhachev voiced his appreciation of the ongoing cooperation with Egypt in the nuclear field, affirming the company's keenness to harness its best potential and exert its utmost effort to implement the project, Radi continued.
Sisi’s meeting with Likhachev came three days after the president’s meeting with the Cabinet to review the latest developments in Dabaa nuclear plant.
In 2014, Egypt and Russia announced their cooperation in the nuclear power field. On November 19, 2015, an agreement was finally signed between Cairo and Moscow that allows Russia to build a nuclear power plant in the city of Dabaa, with Russia extending a $25 billion loan to Egypt to cover the cost of construction. The loan covers 85 percent of the plant, and Egypt funds the remaining 15 percent.
According to the deal, Rosatom will finance and construct four third-generation reactors, with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts (MW) each, and a total of 4,800 MW. The plant will be built on approximately 12,000 feddans and is expected to create over 50,000 job opportunities. Nuclear energy is part of the government’s plan to diversify its energy sources to prevent any future crisis resulting from shortages in electricity.