Several American experts have arranged to meet with their Egyptian counterparts to assist the latter in preparing an administration for Egypt's first nuclear reactor, Energy and Electricity Minister Hassan Younis said this week. “During the previous phase, we spent a long time preparing the legislative groundwork for this program, which represents the first of its kind in Egypt,” Younis told Al-Masry Al-Youm. According to the minister, the specific and general contractual terms section of the specifications and conditions manual will be presented to Egypt's Council of Ministers this week to ensure its conformity with Egyptian law. The ministry also plans to launch an international tender to help cover the anticipated costs of the reactor, which will be built in the coastal region of Dabaa. “Egypt has no preference in terms of specific offers and the specifications manual does not include a specific number for the plant's capacity," said Younis. "But the required capacity should not be below 1000 megawatts or above 1200 megawatts.” “The ministry has set a six-month deadline for receiving offers from international companies, which will begin with the announcement of the launch of the international tender, in order to give these companies a chance to make their financial and technical offers in conformity with the specifications manual,” he said. “The committee mandated with making the decision will allow an additional six months to begin technical and financial evaluations and to give offering companies a chance to answer our queries,” said Younis. According to the minister, the project will enter the implementation phase late next year. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
