FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Education Started in First of Its Kind Nuclear High School in Egypt

Feb. 9, 2019—At a time when Germany and Europe are de-carbonizing and de-nuclearizing, Egypt and Africa are going nuclear. While European youth are encouraged to skip school, because of climate phobia, African youth are looking forward to a bright future from their education. One interesting and telling example is the establishment in Egypt of a first-of-its-kind nuclear technology high school, dedicated to producing hundreds of nuclear engineers and technicians in the next five years, to run its first nuclear power complex in Al-Dabaa.

The Advanced School for Nuclear Power Technology, which opened in autumn 2018, is located in Al-Dabaa in Matrouh Governorate, in the vicinity of the soon-to-be-built Al-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant. The Egyptian and Russian atomic energy agencies are finalizing the technical features of the contract. Groundbreaking for the project will most probably take place in 2019. Teams of Egyptian engineers are already in Russia for technical training by Rosatom.

On Nov. 19, 2015, Egypt and Russia signed an agreement for the latter to build a nuclear power plant in Dabaa, extending a $25 billion loan to the former to cover the cost of construction. The loan will cover 85% of the plant, with Egypt funding the remaining 15%. According to Egypt Today, the deal stipulates that Russian nuclear firm Rosatom will finance and construct four third-generation reactors, with a capacity of 1200 megawatts each, for a total of 4800 MW. The project will create 50,000 job opportunities.

Al-Dabaa is located in the somewhat desolate Matrouh Governorate on Egypt’s west Mediterranean coast. The project will bring productive economic activities to this province, and help rebalance the demographic situation in the country, where 90% of the population live on a narrow strip along the banks of the Nile River, constituting only 5% of the total land area of the country.

The first class at the school began with 75 students. The education is for five years, with the curriculum including all aspects of building, running and maintaining civilian nuclear power plants. The students will also receive education in chemistry and physics, besides mechanics, electronics and computer systems. It would be important to suggest to the administration to add music to the curriculum.

After graduation, the students will be qualified for work in the engineering, maintenance and information systems administration of the power plants. Naturally, they will also qualify for higher education in the same field.

Egyptians are extremely excited by this development, with media coverage applauding the students, the way trans-Atlantic media applaud rock stars.