Russian State-owned nuclear group Rosatom has selected South Korean group Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) to be the sole bidder for several major contracts for the El Dabaa nuclear power plant (NPP) in Egypt, World Nuclear News (WNN) reported on Tuesday. KHNP is a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corporation (better known as Kepco).

El Dabaa will be Egypt’s first NPP, and is planned to be composed of four reactors and will be built by Rosatom. These reactors will all be VVER-1200 units (VVER being the Russian equivalent to the Western pressurised water reactor.)

Under the contract, which came into effect in December 2017, Rosatom will also supply the nuclear fuel for El Dabaa throughout the entire lifecycle of the plant. In addition, the Russian group will assist in maintaining the plant and in training the Egyptian personnel during the first decade of the NPP’s operation. (The first group of Egyptian specialists started training in Russia during September.)

The contracts for which KHNP has been preselected are those for the construction of the main and auxiliary buildings and structures of the “turbine islands” for all four reactors, as well as the supply of certain (unspecified) materials and equipment. An NPP is typically composed of a “nuclear island” centred on the reactor, a turbine island where the electricity is generated, and the “balance of plant”, such as the administrative offices, staff canteen, and so on.

Contracts for work on the new NPP are being awarded in terms of Rosatom’s procurement procedures. KHNP and Rosatom will now discuss the terms and prices for the contract, a process which it is hoped will be completed by the end of next month. This will be followed by the drawing up of the actual contract, and its approval through various internal processes, which should be completed by the end of April. (These are the initial target dates, not yet firmed up, KHNP told WNN.)

KHNP is not the first company to be preselected as sole bidder on El Dabaa contracts. Rosatom had previously awarded such status to three Egyptian groups, namely Arab Contractors, Hassan Allam and Petrojet.

The actual steam turbines, condensers, generators, and various pieces of auxiliary equipment that will be installed in the turbine islands will be designed, manufactured and supplied by the AAEM LLC joint venture. AAEM is a partnership between Rosatom subsidiary Atomenergomash and US group General Electric.

El Dabaa will be operated by Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority. In July last year this agency applied to the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Authority for a construction permit for the first two units of the NPP. Rosatom has stated that construction would start immediately once the permit was granted.