Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi spoke at the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 held in mid-December. He emphasized the urgency and importance of joint efforts to overcome the climate crisis and reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to this goal. Here’s our story of how Egypt’s under-construction El Dabaa NPP will help address climate challenges and pursue the sustainable agenda.
Back in 2015, the UN General Assembly formulated 17 Sustainable Development Goals for the entire planet. In 2023, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) published a report saying that Egypt is facing difficulties in achieving some of the SDGs, such as Affordable and Clean Energy, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Quality Education, and others.
The construction of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant will make a sizable contribution to achieving these goals. For instance, this project will add about USD 4 billion to the country’s GDP (0.9 % of Egypt’s GDP in 2022). More than 14,000 Egyptians (50 % of the site workforce) are employed on the site and 85 local companies are engaged in the plant construction. All this contributes to the achievement of SDG 8 (Decent Wages and Economic Growth).
With over 3,700 people to be trained or receive higher education with Rosatom’s support, the project also makes a contribution to achieving SDG 4 (Quality Education).
The nuclear power plant will provide a reliable supply of clean electricity to about 22 million people (20 % of the country’s population as at 2022) and prevent the emission of about 11 million tons of CO2 equivalent annually. This will help achieve SDG 7 and SDG 13 (Affordable and Clean Energy, and Climate Action).
Beyond power
With the joint scientific, social and educational events held regularly, the contacts between the Russian and Egyptian nuclear communities extend beyond the power sector.
In November, Rosatom sponsored the 30th Women in Nuclear (WiN) conference in Aswan, the first WiN event on the African continent. The conference brought together 129 participants from 38 countries on five continents. Industry experts discussed the importance of gender balance in the industry. “Today, 32 % of our workforce is female and we are proud of that. We believe in the importance of giving women and men equal opportunities to contribute to the safe, secure and peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology. This principle underlies all our activities,” Murad Aslanov, Director of Rosatom’s Office in Egypt, pointed out when speaking at the conference. He stressed that Rosatom was ready to provide Egypt with a wide range of products and technologies, from nuclear energy, wind power and hydrogen solutions to advanced medical equipment and radiopharmaceuticals. “Our sponsorship of the WiN conference proves that Rosatom is committed not only to sustainable development and gender equality, but also to supporting Egypt in achieving its ambitious goals,” Aslanov said.
On November 10, the World Science Day, Rosatom organized its traditional Global Atomic Quiz 2023 taken by 10,000 people from 60 countries. The quiz was held both online and offline at 17 venues around the world, two of which were in Cairo. High school students gathered at the Princeton International School, while reporters and publishing house officials took the quiz at Al-Ahram Publishing House. The contestants answered 20 questions of different complexity, then experts commented on the correct answers. The visitors also had an opportunity to communicate with the contestants from other countries via teleconference. Several Egyptians won the online quiz and received valuable prizes.
The Global Atomic Quiz has been held since 2020 in over 10 languages. More than 40,000 contestants from over 70 countries have taken part in it since then. This year’s quiz was held in 13 languages.
