Russian Federation signs deal to build Egypt''s first nuclear power plant

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday agreed "close cooperation" between their security services after Moscow said a bomb brought down its passenger jet over Sinai.

Al-Sisi provided few details of the cost or how the country would pay for the reactors that by some estimates could top $20 billion (18.6 billion euros). He said only that the loan would be paid back over 35-years and be paid for by electricity. Not until 2006 did former strongman Hosni Mubarak revive Egypt's nuclear power ambitions, only to again be scuttled after he was overthrown in 2011 amid the Arab Spring uprisings.

A spokesman for Russia's state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom said the plant, Egypt's first, would be built at Dabaa in the north of the country and was expected to be completed by 2022.

President Sisi also described the establishment of a nuclear power station as "an Egyptian dream".

The plant in Dabaa, about 130 kilometers (75 miles) south of Cairo, "will be the largest joint project between Russian Federation and Egypt since the Aswan Dam was set up". As well as a nuclear plant, Sisi has talked of building solar and wind energy facilities in the coming three years to generate around 4,300 megawatts of power.

The Project Development Agreement signed that day provides for the construction of two nuclear power units, while on the whole it is planned to construct four units, Director General of Rosatom Corporation Sergey Kirienko stated following the presidents' joint declaration.