Egypt and Russia Signed Building of Egypt’s First Nuclear Power Plant

PRESS RELEASE

Egypt and Russia Signed Building of Egypt’s First Nuclear Power Plant

Nov. 19, 2015 (EIRNS)—Today, Egypt and Russia signed a historic agreement to build a nuclear plant, Egyptian state TV reported. Describing it as an Egyptian dream, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said:

"It is a peaceful nuclear program to generate electric power. Egypt is fully committed to the treaty of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. The signing of the agreement sends a message of the size of the relations between Egypt and Russia,"

Xinhua reported.

The plant is to be built in Dabaa on the Mediterranean coast in the northwest of the country. Sisi said Russia will grant a 35-year loan to Egypt of an unspecified amount. A spokesman for Russia’s state-owned nuclear firm, Rosatom, said the plant was expected to be completed by 2022, Reuters report noted.

Sergei Kiriyenko, director general of Rosatom, said the agreement is for the construction and operation of four 1,200-MW reactors, making the country "a regional leader in terms of technology," the AFP report said. "The Dabaa nuclear plant will be the largest Russian-Egyptian project since the Aswan dam," Rosatom’s press service quoted Kiriyenko. "It will mark a truly new chapter in the history of our bilateral relations," Kiriyenko said.

During the Soviet era, the height of the British-built Aswan High Dam was raised by the Russians, with the work completed in 1970. The high dam was able to control the annual flooding of the Nile and created Lake Nasser, the world’s largest man-made lake. Raising of the Aswan Dam and the creation of Lake Nasser also made it possible for Egyptian farmers to grow an extra crop each year in the Nile delta region by releasing water into the Nile during the dry season.