Egypt’s El Dabaa Reactor Welding Milestone

Quick Summary
• Closing seam welded: 10-day weld on Unit 1 reactor pressure vessel completed in Russia.
• Heavy consumables: ~2 t flux and >1.5 t special wire used during welding.
• What’s next: PWHT and full NDT, vessel shipment expected in late 2025.

Egypt’s first nuclear plant hit a key welding milestone: the closing seam on the Unit 1 reactor pressure vessel (RPV) has been welded at the Izhora site in St. Petersburg. The weld sequence ran for about ten days and will be followed by heat treatment and a full inspection program. The completed vessel is about 13 m long and 4.5 m wide.

Atom Media | Press releases | Thrust truss has been installed at El-Dabaa NPP Unit 1 in Egypt

Rosatom digital press office: The next stage is the installation of the reactor pressure vessel in its design position

Atom Media

Rosatom reported substantial consumables on the seam—~2 tonnes of flux and >1.5 tonnes of special wire—underscoring the scale and duty cycle involved in nuclear-grade pressure-boundary welding. After PWHT, the seam areas will undergo X-ray, ultrasonic and penetrant testing before shipment. Delivery to the El Dabaa site is slated for late 2025.

On site in Egypt, enabling hardware keeps arriving: components such as the support/thrust structures for the reactor cavity have been installed, clearing the path for setting the RPV in its final position once delivered.

Source:

Egypt’s El Dabaa nuclear plant achieves milestone as reactor welding progresses

Egypt’s El Dabaa nuclear plant has reached a critical milestone recently as reactor welding progresses thanks to Russian energy utility, Rosatom.

Energies MediaWarren S.