ST. PETERSBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st June, 2022) Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom may obtain a license for the construction of the first energy block of Egypt's El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant in the third quarter of 2022, board Chairman of the Egyptian Nuclear Power Plant Authority (NPPA), Amged El-Wakeel, said on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Rosatom launched the production of blanks for a reactor vessel of El Dabaa NPP in St. Petersburg.
"In the third quarter," El-Wakeel told reporters, when asked about how soon the Russian nuclear agency can be expected to be granted a license for the construction.
The formal start of construction of El Dabaa's first energy block is scheduled for July 11, Alexander Lokshin, the head of Russian nuclear power equipment exporter Atomstroyexport, a subsidiary of Rosatom, said on Wednesday.
"May be a day earlier or later," he told journalists.
In 2015, Russia and Egypt signed agreements on cooperation in building El Dabaa NPP with the provision that Russia will advance a $25 billion loan for this purpose. In December 2017, the two countries also signed appendix to the agreement to activate commercial contracts for the NPP construction.
El-Dabaa NPP will consist of four power units of 1,200 MW each. The units will operate on advanced Russian nuclear reactors VVER-1200 belonging to the 3+ generation, which meets the highest � post-Fukushima � safety standards.
