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

Egypt is moving forward with its planned Dabaa nuclear power plant on the Mediterranean coast, engaging in discussions with Russia's Rosatom in Nizhny Novgorod. Despite growing international concerns over alleged construction defects and safety-culture issues at the site, the Egyptian Electricity and Renewable Energy Minister, Mahmoud Esmat, met with Rosatom's director general, Alexey Likhachev, to review the project's progress.

The two sides emphasized the importance of maintaining coordination to guarantee adherence to schedules and quality and nuclear-safety standards.

Esmat highlighted the Dabaa plant as one of Egypt's most crucial national and strategic projects, which aims to diversify the country's energy mix and enhance energy security and sustainability. He reported tangible progress in the project's execution and stated that the ministry was continuously monitoring the work alongside the Russian side and Egyptian authorities. Likhachev reaffirmed Rosatom's commitment to meeting the project's schedule and upholding the highest quality and safety standards.

Meanwhile, leaked documents published by Politico have raised red flags about serious construction and safety-culture concerns at Dabaa. The documents reportedly reveal warnings of "deliberate negligence" and breaches of nuclear-safety culture, along with technical issues such as voids behind metallic liner work at Unit 4, defects in foundation slabs of Units 1, 2, and 3, and problems with the cylindrical wall structure of the Unit 4 reactor building.

These issues have led to fears that the construction timeline for Unit 1 might be delayed by up to 18 months, from September 2028 to March 2030.

However, the Egyptian government maintains that these allegations are not true, emphasizing that the identification of individual technical observations and non-conformities during construction is normal for a project of this magnitude. They also point to an International Atomic Energy Agency mission that concluded in Egypt in June and found the country had a comprehensive regulatory and oversight framework in place.

Rosatom denies the allegations, stating that none have been confirmed through their contractual, technical, and supervisory procedures.

The controversy has sparked wider EU scrutiny, as Rosatom is also constructing the Paks II plant in Hungary using the same VVER-1200 reactor technology. Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has stated that he expects all four Dabaa reactors to be completed by 2030, with the first unit beginning power generation by 2028.