Putin says Egypt’s Dabaa nuclear plant enters ‘crucial stage’ as reactor installation begins

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that construction of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant was moving into a “crucial stage,” as the two countries marked the installation of the reactor pressure vessel for the Dabaa plant’s first unit.

Speaking at a ceremony via video conference, Putin said work at the site on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast was progressing “confidently and successfully.” The plant, built by Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom under a 2015 intergovernmental agreement, will have four reactors with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts.

Putin said the project, which is expected to supply about 10 per cent of Egypt’s electricity, was advancing thanks to the “personal initiative and support” of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, to whom he extended birthday greetings. “In the foreseeable future, it will begin generating the electricity required to meet the needs of Egypt’s growing economy,” he said.

He said 55 per cent of contract and subcontract work at the site had been localised in Egypt, helping build a “modern high-tech nuclear industry” and creating new skilled jobs. More than 100 Egyptian students have received nuclear engineering training in Russia, and a training centre at the plant opened in July.

“This means that a modern high-tech nuclear industry is being created in Egypt, which includes the demand for new, including highly skilled jobs.”

Putin said Russia would continue to support Egypt at “all vital stages” of the project, including supplying nuclear fuel, providing technical maintenance and managing spent fuel. He added that Rosatom was ready to share small modular reactor technology and other nuclear applications for use in medicine and agriculture.

The Russian president framed the project as part of a long-standing partnership, citing Soviet-era industrial projects such as the Aswan High Dam and Helwan Iron and Steel Complex. Russia–Egypt trade rose by more than one-third last year, and Moscow is working with Cairo to establish a Russian industrial zone in the Suez Canal area, he said.

Putin concluded by thanking Russian and Egyptian engineers for their work on the project and congratulating Egypt on its Nuclear Energy Day.

Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English

Subediting: Y.Yasser