El Dabaa NNP in Egypt has potential to expand to eight power units, Rosatom considering - senior manager

MOSCOW. Oct 15 (Interfax) - The El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant in Egypt has the potential to expand to eight power units, and Rosatom state nuclear energy corporation is considering this, Rosatom Overseas President Ilya Vergizaev said during the Russian Energy Week 2025.

"There is indeed the potential to expand this plant from four units to eight, and we are considering it," Vergizaev said.

"We're also talking and maintaining contact with other countries. Saudi Arabia is considering a tender [for the construction of a nuclear power plant], and sooner or later they will come to an understanding. The UAE is considering developing both the second phase of the [Barakah] NPP and research reactors," Vergizaev said regarding prospects for working in other countries in the Arab region.

The El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant project envisages construction of four VVER-1200 units.

Rosatom expects to carry out the reactor start-up of the El Dabaa NPP in 2027, Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev said earlier.

"We are supposed to move on to the start-up elements, start-up phases as early as 2027 and commission the first four reactor units before 2030," he said.

Egypt is hoping to speed up the construction of the El Dabaa NPP, Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mahmoud Essmat said in September. He also said that Egypt was in talks with Rosatom about the possible construction of a small-scale nuclear power plant in the country.