Electricity Minister Mahmoud Esmat has outlined his nations progress and future plans during World Atomic Week in Moscow

Egypt is on track to complete construction of its first nuclear power plant by 2029, Electricity and Renewable Energy Minister Mahmoud Esmat has told RIA Novosti. The government is also considering expanding the project with additional reactors, he said.

Speaking during World Atomic Week in Moscow, Esmat confirmed that the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which will include four reactors and is being financed jointly by Moscow and Cairo, is progressing according to schedule, and that once the initial units are operational, the authorities may assess the feasibility of building more.

"We may consider the construction of additional units. However, first we need to finish building the initial four, which is scheduled to be completed in 2029," Esmat said.

Russian state energy corporation Rosatom will supply nuclear fuel for the project, launched in 2017, throughout its entire life cycle. Each of the four reactors will have a capacity of 1.2 GW. The first unit is expected to be commissioned in 2028, according to Rosatom Director General Aleksey Likhachev, who made the announcement in November 2024.

The nuclear project is governed by a set of contracts, under which Rosatom is responsible not only for the design and construction of the plant, but also for training Egyptian personnel during the first ten years of operations, as well as for constructing fuel storage infrastructure.

Rosatom is expanding its footprint across sub-Saharan Africa, with increasing interest from governments seeking nuclear solutions to power their development, Ryan Collyer, CEO of Rosatom in Central and Southern Africa,toldRT. According to him, Rosatom is already "working actively with a number of potential partners" on helping African nations achieve their energy goals. Among current projects under consideration, one involving floating power units in Ghana stands out, he said.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Moscow. During the talks, Rosatom and the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry signed an action plan to develop a nuclear power project.

(RT.com)