Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) announced Saturday that it has successfully installed the lower plate of the reactor shaft for the third unit at the Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant.
NPPA teams overseeing and inspecting construction carried out the work in coordination with Russian general contractor Atomstroyexport.
The NPPA said the bottom plate is a key component of the reactor shaft of Russia’s Generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurised water reactors. Its installation followed the completion of the dry shielding on August 28 this year, and marks one of the final steps in preparing the shaft for the reactor pressure vessel.
The installation follows a sequence of work that included installing the reactor core catcher, pouring concrete for the support ring, and installing the dry shielding and the vessel thermal insulation.
The next major step will be installing the third unit’s reactor pressure vessel, which is about 13 meters long, 4.5 meters in diameter and weighs around 320 tons.
NPPA said the work is being carried out under approved regulatory standards and the supervision of the Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority.
The Dabaa project comprises four VVER-1200 units, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts. The first unit is scheduled for delivery by the end of 2028, and the project is expected to be fully completed by 2030.
