Nuclear Power in Egypt

Introduction

Fig. 1: IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano visits the ETRR-2 Research Reactor. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Egypt has long possessed a high level of latent nuclear expertise, and has operated active research reactors since the early 1960s. [1] However, it has historically refrained from deploying commercial nuclear power. This is a result of a combination of geopolitical factors (US pressure) and the presence of large natural gas reserves. These reserves include the Zohr field, the largest ever discovered in the Mediterranean. [2]

Egypt's Nuclear History

Egypt was one of the first developing nations to recognize the potential of atomic energy, launching its civilian nuclear program in 1954. [1] In September 1956, Egypt and the Soviet Union signed a contract for the establishment of the country's first research reactor, the ETRR-1 (Experimental Training Research Reactor Number One). [3] This 2 MWt (thermal) light-water reactor came online in 1961, placing Egypt at the forefront of nuclear research in Africa and the Arab world. Despite these major successes, adoption of commercial nuclear energy was thwarted by the presence of regional conflicts and political issues. Egypt still continued to advance its technical nuclear capabilities, and built a second ETRR-2 in 1997, pictured in a visit in Fig. 1. [3]

El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant

The primary obstacle to the commercial deployment of nuclear power in Egypt was not just political, but also economic due to Egypt's abundant domestic oil and natural gas reserves. These have prevented nuclear power from being economically competitive. Nevertheless, the Sisi administration chose to move forward with the El Dabaa project, which it argued is necessary for energy sovereignty. It is pictured in Fig. 2. Located approximately 320 kilometers northwest of Cairo, the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) was formally initiated in 2015 with the signing of an agreement between Egypt and Russia. This was one of a series of proposals Russia brought to African countries to build nuclear reactors. Questions have been raised as to whether Russia can/will follow through with them.

Fig. 2: The El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Construction of the NPP officially began in 2022. Unit 1 is set to begin commercial operation in 2028 while all units are expected to be online by 2030. Totalling a project cost of $28.75 billion, El Dabaa will feature four VVER-1200 reactors. These will produce 1,200 MWe per unit (4,800 MWe total) with a lifetime of 60 years. [4] This means that at full capacity, it can produce approximately (in a year):

or 42.048 TWh per year. The VVER-1200 reactors on average run at 90% capacity, meaning that the NPP can be expected to contribute around 0.9 × 42 TWh = 37.8 TWh yearly to Egypt's energy grid. Egypt generated 192.0 TWh of electricity in 2021. [5] Thus, El Dabaa can be expected to provide for around 37.8 / 192.0 = 20% of Egypt's 2021 electricity generation.

© Yousef Helal. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.

References

[1] Y. Turianskyi and J. Van Wyk, eds., Nuclear Power and Governance Frameworks: Egypt, Ghana and South Africa, Special Report, South African Institute of International Affairs, Johannesburg, Mar. 2021.

[2] P. Esestime, A. Hewitt, and N. Hodgson, "Zohr A Newborn Carbonate Play in the Levantine Basin, East-Mediterranean," First Break, vol. 34, pp. 8793, Feb. 2016.

[3] M.K. Shaat, "Utilization of ETRR-2 and Collaboration," International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA-TM-38728, 2010.

[4] A. G. Asmolov et al., "New Generation First-of-the-Kind Unit - VVER-1200 Design Features," Nucl. Eng. Technol. 3, 260 (2017).

[5] "BP Statistical Review of World Energy," British Petroleum, June 2022.