CAIRO, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Thursday that construction of the country's first nuclear power plant is advancing steadily, with the first reactor expected to be connected to the national power grid in 2028.
Madbouly made the remarks during a meeting with Alexey Likhachev, director general of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, on the sidelines of a ceremony marking the installation of the reactor pressure vessel for the plant's second unit, according to a government statement.
The prime minister described the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant as a long-awaited national project made possible through cooperation between Egypt and Russia, and reaffirmed the government's commitment to completing it according to the agreed timetable.
Madbouly said the nuclear plant is part of Egypt's broader strategy to diversify its energy sources and increase the share of clean energy in the country's energy mix to meet growing electricity demand.
Likhachev thanked the Egyptian government for its continued support and reviewed the project's progress.
He said the first of the plant's four reactors is scheduled to be connected to the grid in 2028, with the remaining three units expected to come online by 2030.
Located in the Mediterranean coastal city of El Dabaa in Matrouh Province, about 300 km northwest of Cairo, the plant will comprise four reactor units, each with a generating capacity of 1,200 megawatts. The project is being implemented under contracts signed between Egypt and Russia that entered into force in December 2017.
