CAIRO: Egypt's ministry of electricity and energy announced on Saturday that it would offer an international tender for the construction of the first nuclear station in el-Dabaa on the northern coast before the end of the year. According to Minister Hassan Younis, it will open the bidding to international companies in an effort to move quickly on the country's first nuclear station to help buttress a growing energy need across the country. A final formula of the tender is now being outlined in line with Egyptian laws, Younis said in statements on the sidelines of his trip to Russia. Last Wednesday, Younis started a several days' visit to Russia for talks with Russian officials on boosting cooperation programs between the two countries, with special focus on the nuclear sphere. Younis inspected a number of power generation nuclear plants in Russia to get an idea of the technology to be used. The minister also held talks with heads of Russian companies specialized in manufacturing nuclear plants' components. The companies expressed strong willingness to contribute to Egypt's nuclear program. He said Egypt will put in a bid to construct the 1st nuclear station in Dabaa before the end of 2010. Egypt and Russia approved the formation of specialized working groups of experts to activate agreement of cooperation in the fields of development and training Egyptian cadres, nuclear stations technology as well as assessment and development of crude uranium sources and developing infrastructure and legislative framework to put Egypt's nuclear program into effect, Younis added. For his part, Chief of Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) Sergei Kiriyenko hailed cooperation between Russia and Egypt in the energy sector. Rosatom said it is willing to engage in a bidding contest for the right to build Egypt's first nuclear power plant, Kiriyenko said following a meeting with Minister Younis. BM
