Egypt pushes ahead with Dabaa nuclear plant as leaked documents raise safety concerns

Egypt is pushing ahead with its Dabaa nuclear power plant on the Mediterranean coast, holding talks with Russia’s Rosatom in Nizhny Novgorod this week, despite mounting international scrutiny of alleged construction defects and safety-culture failings at the site.

Egypt’s Electricity and Renewable Energy Minister Mahmoud Esmat met Alexey Likhachev, director general of the Russian state nuclear corporation, on Tuesday, with delegations from both sides. They reviewed progress at the four-unit plant and followed up on the timelines for its construction phases, Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy said in a statement.

The two sides underscored the importance of continued co-ordination to ensure adherence to schedules and to quality and nuclear-safety standards.

Mr Esmat said the plant was one of Egypt’s most important national and strategic projects, aimed at diversifying the country’s energy mix and strengthening energy security and sustainability.

He said there was tangible progress in the project’s execution and his ministry was monitoring the work continuously with the Russian side and Egyptian authorities. Mr Likhachev reaffirmed Rosatom’s commitment to delivering the project on schedule and to the highest quality and safety standards, the ministry said.

Mr Esmat also held a separate meeting with the head of a Rosatom subsidiary specialising in small modular reactors. They reviewed developments in the technology and its potential application in power generation, industrial demand and remote areas.

The minister said Egypt was following global progress on small reactors and studying their potential future role in the country’s energy mix, considering economic and technical feasibility as well as nuclear-safety requirements.

Leaked documents

The talks come days after a Politico investigation alleged serious construction and safety-culture concerns at Dabaa, citing what it described as internal Egyptian and Russian documents.

A confidential letter dated June 4 from Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority to Rosatom reportedly warned of “deliberate negligence” and breaches of nuclear-safety culture. It allegedly identified voids behind metallic liner work at Unit 4, defects in the foundation slabs of Units 1, 2 and 3 that took a year to repair and flaws in the cylindrical wall structure of the Unit 4 reactor building.

A separate Rosatom internal audit cited reportedly warned of a significant risk that the schedule for the first unit could slip by up to 18 months, from September 2028 to March 2030.

Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy did not respond to a request for comment from The National on the specific allegations raised this month.

No nuclear fuel has been introduced at Dabaa, which remains under construction, and no radiological incident has been reported, the government has insisted in multiple statements this week.

The Nuclear Power Plants Authority and the Cabinet both emphasised that the identification of individual technical observations and non-conformities during construction was normal on a project of this scale and that no phase was accepted until such items were addressed through formal nonconformance procedures and structural testing.

Multiple government statements highlighted an Integrated Regulatory Review Service mission by the International Atomic Energy Agency that concluded in Egypt in June and, they said, found that the country had a comprehensive regulatory and oversight framework in place.

Rosatom told Politico that none of the allegations had been confirmed through the project’s contractual, technical and supervisory procedures.

The European Commission also said it was not aware of the confidential documents or the allegations they contained, adding that nuclear safety was a key priority for the bloc.

The reporting has drawn wider scrutiny in the EU because Rosatom is also building the Paks II plant in Hungary using the same VVER-1200 reactor technology deployed at Dabaa.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in July that he expected construction of all four Dabaa reactors to finish by 2030, with the first unit due to begin producing power by 2028.