Russia signs deal to build Egypt's first nuclear power plant

Russian state corporation, Rosatom and the Egyptian government signed a deal on Thursday to build Egypt’s first nuclear power plant in a deal estimated at 20 billion dollars.

“With this signing we have taken the first step to fulfilling Egypt’s dream of peaceful nuclear power,” Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi said at the signing ceremony.

The facility is planned to be built over 12 years in the north-western Egyptian region of El Dabaa and consist of four reactors, each capable of producing 1,200 megawatts of power.

The surveying work for the construction is expected to begin in December and Russia will begin training Egyptian nuclear workers for the facility in 2016.

Previously, Russia helped Iran construct its first civilian nuclear power plant, near the south-western city of Bushehr.

Russia turned over operational control of that plant in 2013 and clinched a deal 2014 to build an additional two reactors at the facility.