Egypt approves construction permit for third nuclear unit

3 April 2023

The Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA) has agreed to grant the construction permit for the third unit of the nuclear power plant in El-Debaa.

The authority’s board of directors, headed by Sami Shaaban, made the decision on 29 March.



In January 2022, Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) applied for a construction permit for units three and four of the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant. 

The NPPA submitted the licensing documentation for the plant’s first two units to ENRRA in June 2021. It then granted the construction permit for the first unit in June 2022 and the construction permit for the second unit in October 2022.

MEED reported in November last year that South Korea’s Doosan Enerbility had begun mobilising teams to construct the turbine island for the El-Debaa nuclear power plant.

Earlier that month, the company signed a contract valued at $1.2bn with state-owned South Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), for the project.

The main construction works for the first tower on the turbine island are expected to commence in the third quarter of 2023.  

The package is a sub-contract for the $2.2bn package that KHNP signed in August 2022 for the project after emerging as the sole bidder for the main and auxiliary buildings and structures of the turbine islands for the units, to be built between 2023-29.

The scope of the Doosan Enerbility contract entails the construction of 82 buildings and structures, covering the turbine building, water treatment and air conditioning systems. It includes installing the turbines and generators.

The first reactor at the plant is scheduled to be operational in 2026.

The facility, located in the Matrouh province on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, will have four units, each with a capacity to generate 1,200MW.

Egypt and Russia signed the initial inter-governmental agreement for the North African state’s first nuclear facility in November 2015.

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Colin Foreman
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