Russia’s Rosatom has awarded construction contracts to three Egyptian firms for the first phase of the four reactor 4.8GW Dabaa nuclear power plant, to be built 170km west of Alexandria on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. Petrojet, Hassan Allam and Arab Contractors were among 10 companies bidding for the work, according to Asharq al-Awasat newspaper. Earlier Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) awarded Australia’s Worley a consultancy contract requiring technical support for the authority from engineering and design review through to commissioning (MEES, 3 January).
Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity signed an agreement with Rosatom in December to proceed with the project, which is expected to cost $29.4bn, toward which Moscow is providing a loan of $25bn. The first reactor is scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2026 and all four are due to be fully online in 2029, after which Egypt will begin repaying the loan (MEES, 15 December 2017). (CONTINUED - 147 WORDS)