The construction of Egypt's first nuclear power plant, El Dabaa, with the help of Russian state corporation Rosatom is proceeding on schedule and at a good pace, Alexey Kononenko, the vice president of Rosatom's engineering branch, Atomstroyexport, told Sputnik on Monday on the sidelines of the Development of the Nuclear Industry in Egypt Forum in Cairo.
"Under the agreement, we are set to complete the construction of the nuclear power plant by 2030. We are on schedule, sometimes even ahead of it. For example, we installed a 'melt trap' at the fourth power unit four months earlier than initially planned," Kononenko said.
Construction and installation work is underway at the four power units, Kononenko added.
"After the melt trap is installed, large-scaled work will start. We are now starting to actively move up from underground levels, that is, building the reactor, auxiliary systems and hydraulic structures. We carry out all work in accordance with the schedules approved by and agreed upon with the customer," he noted.
Egypt is also considering building more power units at the power plant, and Rosatom is ready to work with Egypt in this area, the senior Rosatom official said.
"Such a large-scale project on the African continent shows that Rosatom offers a wide range of services in terms of nuclear plant construction," Kononenko said.
Rosatom's strong pace of implementation of this project creates the prerequisites for new cooperation agreements and expanding the pool of partners for further nuclear plant construction projects in Africa, he added.