Dabaa station...Egypt's nuclear project

Highlights: Egypt and Russia signed contracts for the station in December 2017 at a cost of 28.5 billion US dollars. It consists of 4 nuclear reactors to produce electricity with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts, 1,200 megawatts for each. The first nuclear reactor is scheduled to begin operating in 2028, followed by the other reactors in succession. Egypt cooperated with the Soviet Union in establishing the first nuclear reactors for research and training in 1961 in the city of Anshas.

It consists of 4 nuclear reactors to produce electricity with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts, 1,200 megawatts for each. The first nuclear reactor is scheduled to begin operating in 2028, followed by the other reactors in succession.

The nuclear station is located in the city of Dabaa on the Mediterranean coast (Rosatom)

The Dabaa station represents Egypt's nuclear project, and it consists of 4 nuclear reactors to produce electricity with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts, 1,200 megawatts for each. The first nuclear reactor is scheduled to begin operating in 2028, followed by the other reactors in succession.

The Egyptian nuclear project remained a prisoner of technical and political studies and discussions since the 1950s until Egypt and Russia signed contracts for the station in December 2017 at a cost of 28.5 billion US dollars, and included the agreement on operational support for the station for 10 years, and fuel supplies for 60 years from Rosatom. "Russian government.

The project is financed through a Russian loan worth 25 billion US dollars, which Egypt obtained to establish the nuclear station. Its term is 22 years with an interest rate of 3% annually, with the first installment starting in 2029.

Cairo adheres to the Dabaa project for political and economic considerations, in exchange for warnings about the danger of nuclear projects to environmental life and tourism on the northern coast, specifically the promising city of El Alamein, and that Egypt has an abundance of energy sources and many alternatives to nuclear energy.

An undated photo shows the site where Egypt plans to build a nuclear power plant (French)

The city of Dabaa... its location and its inhabitants

The nuclear station is located in the city of Dabaa in Matrouh Governorate (northwest) on the Mediterranean coast, about 300 kilometers northwest of Cairo. It is built on an area of 45 square kilometers, 15 kilometers long on the northern coast and 5 kilometers deep, in an area characterized by low regional seismic activity and sufficient supplies of cooling water (the Mediterranean Sea).

The population of the Dabaa center is estimated at about 61 thousand people, according to the official statistics of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics for the year 2023.

In order to build the reactor, the authorities expropriated residents’ ownership of their lands in the city more than once. The first was when former President Mohamed Anwar Sadat issued a decision in July 1981 to allocate about 35 square kilometers of the Dabaa area to establish a nuclear station. However, the project was halted due to considerations including the impact of the station’s explosion. The Chernobyl nuclear attack in 1986 increased the popularity of nuclear energy worldwide.

Between 2002 and 2003, the Egyptian government returned to expropriating the people’s property again with the aim of reviving the Dabaa project. In November 2011, people took advantage of the events of the 2011 revolution and organized sit-ins during which they demanded the return of their lands.

In January 2012, hundreds of families stormed the Dabaa site and refused to leave or be compensated for the lands that had been previously taken from them. In October 2013, the authorities announced that they had regained control of the area and restarted their nuclear program, before announcing in 2016 the disbursement of financial compensation. For the families.

The Russian company Rosatom won the deal to establish the Egyptian nuclear plant in 2014 (Reuters)

From Anshas to Dabaa

Egyptian interest in nuclear energy dates back to the 1950s, specifically in 1955 with the establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission, in response to the Israeli nuclear program at that time.

The most prominent stages of the development of the Egyptian nuclear project can be monitored in the following points:

Egypt cooperated with the Soviet Union in establishing the first nuclear reactor for research and training in 1961 in the city of Anshas in the Sharkia Governorate, with a capacity of two thermal megawatts. It is closed in the long term, noting that a second Argentine research reactor, partially supported by Russia, was operated in Anshas in 1998 with a capacity of 22 megawatts. Thermally.
In 1957, Egypt participated as a founding member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and in the same year it obtained a radioisotope laboratory from Denmark.
In 1964, Egypt issued an international tender to establish a nuclear station in the Borg El Arab area in Alexandria Governorate, but the 1967 war stopped the project.
With the return of Egyptian-American relations in 1974, Cairo and Washington agreed to sell an American nuclear reactor to Egypt that was planned to be built in the Dabaa area, but the project was not completed due to Washington’s requirement that nuclear fuel be produced outside Egypt with inspection of nuclear facilities, which Cairo rejected.
Egypt initialed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968, but until 1981 refused to ratify it unless Israel did so.
In 1983, Egypt issued a tender to establish a 900-megawatt nuclear power station in Dabaa, but it stopped in 1986 after the Chernobyl disaster in the same year.

South Korea is contributing to the project through its state-owned hydro and nuclear power company, KHNP (Getty)

The Dabaa project returned to the forefront again in 2007 when former President Hosni Mubarak announced the resumption of Egypt's nuclear program, but the project was halted for reasons raised about the suitability of the Dabaa region for establishing a nuclear project.
In August 2010, the International Atomic Energy Agency recognized that the Dabaa site was suitable for establishing the nuclear plant, but the project was suspended until the situation stabilized in Egypt after the revolution of January 25, 2011.
In 2013, the preparation and equipping of the Dabaa site began to implement the project after the armed forces received the site. In 2014, 6 international companies applied to establish the Dabaa station, and the Russian company Rosatom won the deal.
On November 19, 2015, Egypt and Russia signed an agreement to establish the first nuclear power station to generate electricity in El-Dabaa land in the first phase, and the Egyptian Nuclear Power Plants Authority designated this day every year as a national nuclear energy holiday.
In June 2022, the Egyptian Energy and Electricity Authority approved a permit to build the first nuclear reactor unit.
Construction of the second unit began in November 2022, and in May 2023 construction of the third unit began, before construction of the fourth and final unit opened in January 2024.

Dabaa station

The Dabaa station is a third-generation nuclear power plant that operates with pressurized water and complies with the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency. It is designed to withstand a 400-ton plane crash or an earthquake of 9 degrees on the Richter scale. It is similar to the Russian Leningrad nuclear power station that it implemented. "Rosatom".

The Russian role will not be limited to establishing the station. In accordance with contractual obligations, the Russians will supply the country with nuclear fuel throughout its operational life, and will provide support in operating and maintaining the station over the first ten years of its operation, and establish a facility to store spent nuclear fuel, according to what was reported by local media.

South Korea is also contributing to the Dabaa project through its state-owned hydro and nuclear power company, KHNP, by supplying main and subsidiary construction equipment and materials.

The main buildings of the Dabaa nuclear plant consist of turbine and control buildings, accessories, a steam room, a reactor building, and a safety building.

Objectives of the nuclear project

The Dabaa nuclear plant is one of the elements of achieving Egypt’s sustainable development strategy (Vision 2030), through which Cairo seeks to achieve the following goals:

Economic goals

According to Egypt's Energy Strategy 2035, adopted in 2016, the country aims to introduce nuclear energy by 3% into energy sources in 2035, along with 42% of renewable energy sources (wind/solar/hydro) compared to 20% in 2022.

Political goals

Deepening relations with Russia and diversifying external alliances, as the project’s work was not affected despite the precedent of Russia’s expulsion from the global financial system “SWIFT” following the outbreak of the Russian war on Ukraine in February 2022.

Dealing with nuclear waste

In 2017, the Supreme Council for the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (government) adopted a national strategy for managing radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel in nuclear plants.

Government reports indicate that Egypt has contracted with the Russian partner to deal with spent nuclear fuel by establishing dry storage warehouses, using special containers prepared to preserve the fuel for a period of 100 years, provided that it is buried in the manner followed internationally.

However, there are concerns that have arisen regarding the project, especially the environmental dimension and economic feasibility, as environmental and legal studies on the environmental impact of the Dabaa station adopt a different position, and believe that generating electricity from nuclear energy is expensive, risky, and unsustainable, and that there are better Egyptian alternatives for obtaining energy.

Alternatives and caveats

In November 2019, a study by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (a private human rights body) on nuclear energy and the Dabaa project showed that there are significant differences in the economic feasibility between the Dabaa plant and alternative energy plants, in addition to warning that there is no safe level that protects against Exposure to nuclear radiation.

The study estimated that the costs of building the Dabaa station amounted to 30 billion US dollars, with a capacity of 4,800 megawatts, meaning that it exceeds the costs of constructing a natural gas station by about 12 times, wind farms by about 6 times, and photovoltaic (solar energy) cell stations by about 3 times to generate the same amount of energy.

In 2011, Egyptian media quoted the director of the Center for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences at Boston University, Farouk El-Baz, as saying that “Egypt is not qualified to test nuclear energy,” warning of “the possibility of being exposed to a radioactive leak or a nuclear meltdown resulting from negligence or mistreatment of cooling water.” .

Source: Egyptian press + websites