CAIRO — The Egyptian government is taking new steps to implement its ambitious program to use nuclear energy for the generation of electricity. This comes after the project had been halted due to security, political and economic reasons as well as popular opposition.
Interim Egyptian President Adly Mansour announced Oct. 6 plans to move forward in inaugurating a nuclear plant in the city of El-Dabaa, to be used for peaceful purposes. He considered it a national priority that would satisfy Egypt’s developmental needs during the coming decades in light of the energy crisis that has plagued the country. According to him, this crisis is due to the lack of fuel needed to generate electricity and the inefficiency of existing power plants. These generate only 30,000 megawatts, which is not enough to satisfy the needs of Egypt, where the amount of electricity consumed per capita is 30% lower than the world average.
