Russia and Egypt can sign contracts on nuclear power plant in 2017

All grounds exist to believe that Russia and Egypt will sign main contracts for construction of Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in 2017, Russian Ambassador to Cairo Sergey Kirpichenko told TASS in an interview on Thursday.

Negotiations on construction of the nuclear power plant have not been completed yet, the ambassador said. "However, a major step forward was taken in this area in 2016. All grounds exist to expect that main contracts for NPP construction will be indeed signed this year," the diplomat said.

On November 19, 2015 Russia and Egypt signed an inter-governmental agreement on constructing the first nuclear power plant in El
Dabaa, consisting of four power units with 1,200 MW capacity each. Under the agreement Cairo is granted a $25 bln loan to build the plant.
The nuclear power plant is expected to be built near the city of El Alamein on Egypt’s northern coast, 3.5 kilometers away from the Mediterranean Sea. The project is planned to be implemented in 12 years.