The reactor pressure vessel of Unit 2 at El Dabaa, Egypt's first nuclear power plant, was installed on 9 July 2026 at a ceremony attended by PM Madbouly, IAEA chief Grossi and Rosatom chief Likhachev.
Construction of El Dabaa, Egypt's first nuclear power plant, has reached a new milestone: on 9 July 2026 the reactor pressure vessel was installed at Unit 2. According to Amwal Al Ghad, the installation ceremony was attended by Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev and Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mahmoud Esmat. An official announcement was also published by the Egypt State Information Service.
Installed to One-Tenth of a Millimetre
As reported by Nuclear Engineering International, the vessel, weighing more than 340 tonnes, was lowered into the reactor shaft by a crawler crane with a lifting capacity of 1,350 tonnes, and the operation was completed to a precision of one-tenth of a millimetre. The next step after installation is the start of welding works on the main circulation pipeline.
Construction Pace Accelerating
At the ceremony, Likhachev recalled that the reactor pressure vessel of Unit 1 had been installed only about seven months earlier, underlining that the pace of construction is increasing. According to the schedule reported by Egypt Oil & Gas, Unit 1 is planned to be connected to the Egyptian grid in 2028, with the remaining three units to be completed by 2030.
Project at a Glance
- Location: El Dabaa, Matrouh governorate — Egypt's first nuclear power plant
- Reactors: 4 x Gen III+ VVER-1200
- Total capacity: 4,800 MW
- Main contractor: Rosatom
The project uses the same Gen III+ VVER-1200 reactor design as the Akkuyu NPP under construction in Mersin, Türkiye.
Voltim's Perspective
At Voltim Logistics, we follow this development closely from the logistics side of nuclear energy projects. Delivering heavy nuclear components such as a reactor pressure vessel of more than 340 tonnes from factory to site requires flawless coordination of heavy-lift sea transport, port handling and on-site heavy lifting operations. The fact that El Dabaa uses the same reactor design as the Akkuyu NPP shows how similar the logistics requirements of such projects are. For component shipments of this scale, we provide solutions through our nuclear project transportation and oversized & heavy cargo services.