Russia’s Rosatom plans construction tenders for Egypt nuclear project

Russian state nuclear company Rosatom plans to launch two tenders for the construction works in Egypt’s nuclear power plant project, an official said on Sunday, but gave no timeframe.

Russia and Egypt signed an agreement in late 2015 to build a nuclear power plant in the North African country, with Moscow extending a loan to cover the cost of construction. The plant, Egypt’s first, will be built at Dabaa in the north of the country.

Rosatom hopes to obtain the licences needed to build the first unit at Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant in 2020, Anatoly Kovtunov, head of the engineering division at the Russian firm, said at a conference in Cairo.

Rosatom has signed contracts worth more than $100 billion with several countries around the world to build nuclear their own power plants, most recently with Egypt, Hungary, and Bangladesh, Kovtunov added.

The Russian firm has an order book worth more than $100 billion and contracts to build 22 nuclear reactors in nine countries over the next decade, including Belarus, Bangladesh, China, India, Turkey, Finland, Hungary, Egypt, and Iran.

Egypt has been considering a nuclear power plant at Dabaa on and off since the 1980s.

With a population of more than 90 million and vast energy requirements, Egypt is seeking to diversify its energy sources. It has signed several agreements to build solar and wind energy facilities in the coming three years.