Egypt's first nuclear power plant, designed and constructed by the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation Rosatom's Engineering Unit ASE A.Ş., has arrived at the core holder construction site to be used in the 1st power unit of El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant (NGS). The core holder is NGS's first heavy and oversized equipment.
A core element of a NPP's passive safety systems, the ember trap securely holds parts of the molten core, preventing it from leaving the reactor building enclosure in an emergency. The equipment, whose installation was completed in the first three units of Akkuyu NPP built in Mersin, stands out as a part of the latest technology nuclear power units with 3+ generation VVER-1200 designs.
The production of the core holder belonging to El-Dabaa NGS was also completed at ASE A.Ş., a subsidiary of Rosatom. The ember was loaded on a captive ship to St. It was sent from the Port of St. Petersburg to Egypt.
A ceremony was also held due to the arrival of the core holder on the field. The ceremony was attended by project teams from Rosatom Engineering Department and NPPA on behalf of the Egyptian Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA), as well as NPPA Deputy Chairman of the Board for Operations and Maintenance, Engineer Mohamed Ramadan Badawy, Al-Dabaa NPP Project Project Manager Dr. Mohammed Dwiddar and Rosatom's Engineering Unit ASE A.Ş. Vice President and Al-Dabaa NPP Construction Project Director Grigory Sosnin attended.
Engineer Mohamed Ramadan Badawy said: “Together, we are witnessing the arrival of the first heavy and oversized equipment at the construction site, which is an important milestone for the Al-Dabaa NPP Project. The NPPA, in collaboration with Egyptian organizations, made significant efforts to meet the infrastructure requirements for the implementation of the project, in particular to build a shore to bring heavy and oversized equipment to the site, and to ensure that this facility was ready for the first equipment brought to the NPP site by the long haul. The core holder of Unit 1 is the first shipment to arrive at the on-site built shore facility and marks a turning point in the history of the Al-Dabaa NPP Project.”
Grigory Sosnin, Vice President of Rosatom's Engineering Unit ASE A.Ş and Director of the Al-Dabaa NPP Construction Project, said, “Today, the first heavy and large-sized equipment of Unit 1, the core holder, was brought to the site. This is a very important step. Two years ago, we visited a workshop in Sızran, where the production of this equipment started. Now the core holder has finally arrived on the field. The core arrester is one of the most important safety elements of NPPs with 3+ generation VVER design and allows us to build the safest NPP in the world.”