The first level of the inner containment building for unit 2 of Egypt’s El Dabaa nuclear power plant is in place.

The inner containment building is a cylindrical reinforced concrete structure which houses the nuclear reactor and the primary circuit equipment of the nuclear power plant. It has a domed roof and will be surrounded by a similar shaped, but larger, outer containment building.

The inner containment building consists of 12 leaf-type segments, each weighing between 60 and 80 tonnes. The first segment was installed on 26 September and the final section installed less than a month later, on 24 October. The installation of the first tier of the inner containment building for unit 1 took three months, between March and May this year.

Amged El-Wakeel, chairman of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) of Egypt, was at the site to announce the landmark moment.

El Dabaa will be Egypt’s first nuclear power plant, and the first in Africa since South Africa’s Koeberg was built nearly 40 years ago. The Rosatom-led project is about 320 kilometres north-west of Cairo and will comprise four VVER-1200 units, like those already in operation at the Leningrad and Novovoronezh nuclear power plants in Russia, and the Ostrovets plant in Belarus.

Rosatom will not only build the plant, but will also supply Russian nuclear fuel for its entire life cycle. It will also assist Egyptian partners in training personnel and plant maintenance for the first 10 years of its operation. Rosatom is also contracted to build a special storage facility and supply containers for storing used nuclear fuel. Construction of the nuclear power plant began in July 2022.