A Russian state-controlled company, building a nuclear power plant in Hungary, faces allegations of safety, security, and engineering deficiencies. The nonconformities would have been admitted within another project, implemented in Egypt, which uses the same technology as that used in the EU.
In a confidential letter, obtained by Politico, dated June 4 and addressed to a director of Rosatom, the Egyptian Nuclear Power Plants Authority describes the “defects” affecting several reactor units and violations of the “nuclear safety culture” in the construction of the El Dabaa nuclear power plant. The letter also mentions the “deliberate negligence” on the part of an official involved in the project.
“Serious concrete defects have reappeared, including voids behind the metallic cladding of Unit 4, defects in the foundation slabs of Units 1, 2 and 3, whose repair took a year, as well as defects in the cellular structure of the cylindrical wall of the reactor building at Unit 4,” the document states.
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stated in July that he expects the construction of all four reactors at El Dabaa to be completed by 2030, with the first reactor unit set to start energy production in 2028. So far, nuclear fuel has not yet been introduced on site.
Once fully operational, the El Dabaa complex will comprise four Russian-designed nuclear reactors, under the supervision of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority. In the letter sent by the Egyptian authority to Rosatom, an agency official mentioned that the still unfinished reactors already have defects.
The Egyptian agency then accuses Rosatom of “deceptive methods” and “fictitious works”, through which it tries to demonstrate that the works at the power plant are more than half completed, “while a visual inspection on the spot clearly shows that the main buildings of the nuclear island are still in the phase of underground construction”.
In a statement sent by email to Politico, Rosatom affirmed that it adheres to the highest standards of nuclear safety and that it has done so throughout the construction of the El Dabaa power plant, writes news.ro The company refused to say whether it received the letter or complaints from the Egyptian Authority for Nuclear Power Plants. The Authority in Cairo did not respond to requests to comment on its communications to Rosatom.
The allegations contained in the documents cast a shadow over the Paks II project in Hungary and are likely to reinforce Brussels’ concerns about entrusting critical European infrastructure to a company under Kremlin control.