The Memorandum of Understanding signed with Russia to build two nuclear power plants in Dabaa will soon be finalized, said Electricity Ministry adviser and former chief inspector for the International Agency for Atomic Energy, Ibrahim al-Asiri.
The Russian Rosatom company has been chosen to construct the plants after American, Korean and Chinese offers were rejected, Asiri added.
Asiri said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi may sign the agreement for the project during his visit to Russia, scheduled for Tuesday.
The cost of the two plants is US$5 billion, he added. Egypt will repay the costs to Russia over a two-year period, he said.
"Egypt obliged the Russian side to include a minimum of 20 percent of Egyptian manufacturing components in the first plant and 35 percent in the second plant," Asiri mentioned.
The total production capacity for the two plants will be 2,400 megawatts, according to Asiri. Additionally, there will be a need for 32 tons of nuclear fuel to run each plant for a year, he added.
Investment Minister Ashraf Salman met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich in December 2014, followed by a press conference during which they announced a Russian-Egyptian cooperation in the nuclear field. No details were provided.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
