Egypt nuclear station will have four Russia-supplied VVER-1200 reactor units
The second tier has been installed of the inner steel containment shell for the second unit of the El Dabaa nuclear power station under construction in Egypt, Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said.
El Dabaa, Egypt’s first commercial nuclear station, will have four Russia-supplied Generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurised water reactors, with the first unit expected to be online in 2026. Construction of El Dabaa-2 began in November 2022.
At a nuclear power reactor, the inner containment acts as a hermetic protection system, designed to withstand high external and internal pressures and protect against radiation release.
The first tier for El Dabaa-2 was installed in October 2024 at the site, about 300 km northwest of the Egyptian capital Cairo on the country’s Mediterranean coast.
Rosatom said that after installation of the second tier, the reactor building became the tallest structure onsite, reaching slightly above 20 metres.
VVER-1200 plants have a total of seven cylindrical tiers for the inner steel containment, with the fifth one serving as a transition between the main part of the containment and its dome structure. The dome itself consists of a lower and upper tier.
According to earlier reports, Russia would lend Egypt $25bn (€23bn) for the construction of the El Dabaa station, which would constitute about 85% of the total cost of the project.
