Object

El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant will be the first nuclear power plant in the Arab Republic of Egypt. It will be built by the Russian state-owned group Rosatom under a contract from late 2017 and will feature 4 units of 1 200 MWe each. Russian companies will support Egypt in the operation of the power plant and will supply the fuel throughout the life of the plant.

The Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) is the Egyptian state agency who will be the owner of El Dabaa NPP. NPPA has engaged Australian engineering company Worley in the role of Owner’s Engineer (OE) to provide technical consulting services throughout the construction and design of the power plant. One of the main roles of the OE is to review technical documentation developed by the Contractor for compliance with the terms of the contracts between the Owner and the Contractor as well as applicable codes and standards. Worley has recognized the expertise and experience of GCR personnel and has engaged GCR to augment Worley’s team.

Scope of the project

GCR’s personnel provided to work alongside Worley on the EDNPP project performs the following main activities:

1. Review of “licensing documentation” under the terms of the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) and Spent Nuclear Fuel Treatment (SNFT) contracts for:
   1. Site characteristics and how they are considered in the units’ design;
   2. Nuclear safety assessment / Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR) / Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) / severe accidents management;
   3. Nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) / Balance of Plant (BOP) technology & systems;
   4. Power supply and grid connection systems;
   5. I&C including for Nuclear Island (NI) and BOP;
   6. Safety qualification of the units’ SSC;
   7. Compliance of the documents with Project quality requirements;
   8. Participation in meetings with the NPPA and contractors under the Project, on as needed basis.
2. Review of “technical documentation” under the terms of the EPC and SNFT contract, for:
   1. Correspondence between engineering solutions and safety analysis results;
   2. Compliance of the design with EPC and SNFT contracts requirements;
   3. Compliance of the design with the EPC and SNFT Contracts codes and standards; 
   4. Safety and environmental qualification of the units’ SSC (assume that the SNFSF included in unit’s SSC);
   5. Compliance with best industrial practices;
   6. Compliance of the documents with Project quality requirements;
   7. Participation in meetings with the NPPA and contractors under the Project, on as needed basis.
3. Provision of inputs and participation in the elaboration of an off-site emergency plan;
4. Participation in and contribution to discussions with the NPPA and the contractors under the Project for clarifying the scope and content of safety-related documents of SNFSF; 
5. Provision of training to NPPA staff jointly with Worley personnel or independently, including:
   1. Developing training materials in compliance with the requirements set by Worley training manager;
   2. Giving lectures, training, and examinations;
6. Provision of on-the-job training to NPPA staff, including work in conjunction with NPPA staff.

Results

Since 2018, GCR staff has participated in multiple revision rounds of Conceptual Documentation, Basic Design, Preliminary Safety Analysis Report, Probabilistic Safety Analysis and Topical Reports in support of different chapters of each of these documents. Our team routinely participates in meetings to discuss their findings and agree on corrective actions with NPPA and the Contractors.