A ceremony dedicated to the “first concrete” pouring into the foundation slab of Power Unit 4 took place in the Arab Republic of Egypt, at El-Dabaa construction site (General Designer and General Contractor is ROSATOM Engineering Division). This historic event signifies the beginning of the main stage of the power unit construction, thus making the four-unit El Dabaa nuclear power plant the largest nuclear construction project on the African continent.
The videoconference ceremony was attended by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The site was attended by Moustafa Madbouly, the Prime Minister of Egypt, Alexey Likhachev, the Director General of ROSATOM, Dr. Mohamed Shaker, the Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy of Egypt, Dr. Amged El-Wakeel, Board Chairman of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority and other officials. The leaders of the two countries gave an emblematic permission to pour the “first concrete” into the foundation slab of the El-Dabaa NPP Power unit 4.
Addressing the attendees, Alexey Likhachev pointed out: “We commemorate today a landmark event in the history of Egypt’s nuclear energy and Russian-Egyptian relations. The first concreting of the Power unit 4 foundation slab launches the largest bilateral cooperation project since the construction of the Aswan Dam, namely construction of the first Egyptian nuclear power plant. Now all four power units of the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant are under construction. This means that our Egypt site is becoming one of the two largest nuclear construction projects in the world.”
Dr. Mohamed Shaker, the Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, stated that, in advancement towards the ‘New Republic’ under the leadership of H.E. President El-Sisi, Egypt is rapidly exploring new horizons and achieving ambitious goals. Accomplishing the achievements to date is a testament to the fruitful cooperation fostered with Egypt’s partners from the Russian side. Dr. Shaker stressed that what the El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant was witnessing today was not a coincidence, but rather the result of the close involvement and support provided by the political leadership of both Egypt and Russia, as well as the round-the-clock hard work and dedication of the working groups from both sides. The Egyptian-Russian teams worked unrelentingly to achieve the project’s key milestones.
