Russia's Rosatom Says Began Process Of Obtaining Dabaa NPP Construction License From Egypt

Egypt's Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) has begun considering Russian documentation that is needed for the country to obtain a license to build the Dabaa nuclear power plant on Egytian soil, Vice President of ASE Engineering Company (subsidiary of Rosatom state corporation) Grigory Sosnin said Monday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2018) Egypt's Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) has begun considering Russian documentation that is needed for the country to obtain a license to build the Dabaa nuclear power plant on Egytian soil, Vice President of ASE Engineering Company (subsidiary of Rosatom state corporation) Grigory Sosnin said Monday.

"At present, the Russian side has developed the first part of the preliminary NPP safety analysis report, and it has already been handed over to the customer for consideration. We are still working on preparing the full package of documents for obtaining a license ... We have an effective working dialogue," Sosnin said.

The start of preparatory work on the site of the future NPP is expected to start as early as 2019, the top manager went on, adding that Russia plans to organize training for Egyptian specialists to ensure that the Dabaa NPP is properly staffed.

"This is the practice that we are implementing at all construction sites for the nuclear power plant. We are training specialists to work on our project, and later on the nuclear power plant itself," Sosnin explained.

Sosnin previously told the Nuclear Engineering International magazine, one of the world's leading nuclear industry publications, that the main documents required to obtain a construction license were planned to be handed over to Egypt before 2019. The documents are expected to be transferred to the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (NRRA) in early 2019, and the license itself will be received by mid-2020. Afterward, it will be possible to begin building the NPP.

In November 2015, Russia and Egypt signed an intergovernmental agreement to build the Dabaa NPP. The plant will consist of four 3+ generation, 1,200-megawatt nuclear reactors that will meet the highest "post-Fukushima" security standards. The plant is expected to be built within 12 year with the help of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom. The project officially started on December 11, 2017. The launch of the NPP's first unit is expected in 2026.