MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - Egypt plans to organize a tender for its first nuclear plant by the end of 2014, a major Egyptian newspaper reported.
According to a report by Al Ahram newspaper published on Saturday, it’s still undetermined whether the tender will be an open or closed one.
It is expected that the capacity of the nuclear plant will be from 1,000 to 1,200 megawatts. Egyptian authorities have already chosen its future location, the city of Dabaa west of Alexandria on Mediterranean coast.
International Atomic Energy Agency experts earlier confirmed that Dabaa complies with all the international requirements and is suitable for nuclear plant construction.
Last month, Rusatom Overseas CEO Dzhomart Aliyev said that Russia is talking to Egypt about nuclear plant construction. Aliyev said that Russia sent a proposal to Egypt as a response to their query about the possible nuclear plant construction.
Aliyev added that Egypt’s side needs to decide whether private companies will be allowed to finance nuclear plant construction and whether there will be a tender rather than direct negotiations.
Rusatom Overseas is a subsidiary of Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom that works on the international energy market.
In 2008, Egypt and Russia signed a cooperation agreement on peaceful nuclear energy. The agreement allows Russian companies to take part in future tenders to construct nuclear plants in Egypt, including the one in Dabaa.
