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An American and a Russian firm intend to submit bids to build small nuclear reactors here, Asharq Business reported, citing sources it says have knowledge of the matter. The two companies have held talks with the Nuclear Power Plants Authority on the potential projects, which would be financed by bank lending on favorable terms, according to Asharq. The names of the firms were not disclosed.
Russia already has a foot in our nascent nuclear sector: Russian state nuclear company Rosatom was contracted in 2015 to handle the construction and provide fuel for Dabaa, Egypt’s first nuclear power plant. The company broke ground on the USD 30 bn project last summer. Dabaa will include four 1.2-GW reactors and is set to come online at the beginning of the next decade.
Small nuclear reactors? With an annual capacity of up to 300 GW, small nuclear reactors (AKA small modular reactors or SMRs) have around a third of the processing power of their bigger counterparts, according to the World Economic Forum. Both generate energy through nuclear fission — but the key difference is that big nuclear reactors must be built almost entirely on-site in a complex construction process, while SMR components can be more easily transported and assembled in factory conditions. That could make small reactors cheaper and easier to build, as well as allowing them to be fitted in decommissioned coal-fired plants, according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA).
The tech is still in its early stages: There are more than 80 SMR designs in development globally, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — but only one design has so far received regulatory approval in the US and there is as of yet no consensus on how to regulate SMRs globally. There are just five small reactors in operation so far: three in Russia, one in India, and one built by China and exported to Pakistan, according to the WNA.
REMEMBER- Egypt is working to establish itself as an energy hub. Amid the loss of Russian fossil fuel supply to European markets thanks to war in Ukraine, the government has redoubled efforts to position the country as a regional energy hub serving the continent.
