Rosatom, the atomic energy corporation in Russia, said it has signed an agreement with Egyptian government to build a nuclear plant with four reactors each with a capacity of 1200 MW.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, in comments on state television, announced the nuclear plant deal. However, he did not give any value or timeframe for the project but said it would involve the building of a third-generation power plant with four reactors with capacity of 1200 MW each on Egypt’s territory.

It is not clear in which part of the country it will be built or how it will be paid for, but Sisi talked of a loan that would be repaid over 35 years.

The agreement was signed by Mohamed Shaker, Egypt's Minister of Electricity and Energy and Sergey Kirienko, the director general of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation in the presence of Sisi.

"The country's balance sheet will not bear the cost of this loan, it will be covered by the production of electricity from the plant," he said. "The goal of the signing is a message of hope, work and peace for us in Egypt and for the world." 

In addition to this, a MoU between the Russian Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision and the Egyptian regulatory body for nuclear and radiological safety was signed in order to facilitate further development of the nuclear infrastructure.
 
Documents specified questions of nuclear fuel supply for future NPP, obligations in operation, maintenance and repair of NPP power units.

IGA also regulates questions of SNF treatment, NPP personnel training, assistance to Egypt in the improvement of standards and regulations in the sphere of nuclear power industry and nuclear infrastructure.
 
On the deal, Kirienko said: "NPP project in Dabaa will become the largest joint project between Russia and Egypt since Aswan dam project; this is sincerely new page in history of Russian-Egyptian intergovernmental relations."

"First NPP will make Egypt regional technological leader and the region’s only country with NPP 3+ Gen technology," he added.- Reuters and TradeArabia News Service