MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/. A key component of the nuclear power plant's safety system, the so-called "melt trap," has been delivered to the El Dabaa NPP construction site in Egypt, the press service of Atomstroyexport (ASE, Rosatom's engineering division) reported.
The vessel with the melt trap left the port of Novorossiysk in October. Thanks to early construction readiness at power unit No. 4, the device arrived in Egypt ahead of schedule, the report says.
The total weight of the melt trap is more than 700 tons, the weight of the hull is 155 tons. Specialists plan to begin installation of the device by the end of this year.
According to Vice President of JSC ASE, Director of the El-Dabaa NPP construction project, Alexey Kononenko, the construction of power units according to the VVER-1200 design is a well-established process for Rosatom.
"We have moved from individual unique projects to an industrial flow-line construction. Today we are receiving the fourth "trap" for the El Dabaa NPP. This means that very soon we will begin installing the casing of the device at the fourth power unit. I would like to note that in 2023 we installed "traps" at power units No. 1 and No. 2, and in 2024 - at power unit No. 3. The installation of the "trap" at power unit No. 4 this year will show the stability of our process - two "traps" per year. We are successfully working on the simultaneous construction of all four power units of the first Egyptian NPP, using advanced technologies and modern engineering solutions," Kononenko said as quoted by the press service.
El-Dabaa is the first nuclear power plant in Egypt to be built by Rosatom in the Matrouh Governorate on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea about 300 kilometers northwest of Cairo. This is Rosatom's first major project in Africa. By 2028, the state corporation will build four units of the plant with VVER-1200 reactors and will supply nuclear fuel throughout the life cycle of the NPP (60 years), as well as provide training, maintenance and repair services for 10 years after the start-up of each unit. The contract also provides for the construction of the first module of dry containerized storage of spent nuclear fuel by 2028. Egypt expects the NPP to reach full capacity by 2030.