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Egypt, Russia to Activate Contracts for Buying Nuclear Fuel

A Russian delegation visits Egypt to follow up on the nuclear project. (Nuclear Power Plants Authority)
A Russian delegation visits Egypt to follow up on the nuclear project. (Nuclear Power Plants Authority)
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Egypt, Russia to Activate Contracts for Buying Nuclear Fuel

A Russian delegation visits Egypt to follow up on the nuclear project. (Nuclear Power Plants Authority)
A Russian delegation visits Egypt to follow up on the nuclear project. (Nuclear Power Plants Authority)

Egyptian and Russian officials discussed on Monday activating contracts to purchase the nuclear fuel needed to operate Egypt’s Second Research Reactor (ETRR-2) by 2030.

Chairman of the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA) Amr El-Hag held talks with a Russian delegation from the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NCCP) and TVEL Fuel Company of the state-owned Rosatom.

Talks tackled the implementation of the contracts inked between the two sides in 2017.

Under the contracts, Russia will supply another batch of uranium components and products made of the aluminum alloy and aluminum powder for the ETRR-2 and extend needed nuclear fuel for operating the reactor by 2030.

Hag stressed that the EAEA has qualified human cadres, laboratories and various research activities in the fields of peaceful uses of atomic energy.

He pointed to its expertise in manufacturing nuclear fuel for ETRR-2, which produces radioactive isotopes and covers the Egyptian local market.

Egypt’s second nuclear reactor is located at the Atomic Research Center in Inshas, ​​60 km northeast of Cairo.

It is used to conduct studies on particle physics research and matter and produce radioactive isotopes.

Egypt and Rosatom signed on December 11, 2017 several documents to put into force the commercial contracts for the construction of the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant.

The plant consists of four nuclear reactors, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts.

They stipulate that Rosatom will build the El-Dabaa NPP on the Mediterranean coast, conduct personnel training and assist its Egyptian partners in the operation and maintenance of the plant for the first 10 years of its operation.

Russia is also contracted to build a special storage facility and supply containers for storing used nuclear fuel.

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Syria's New Foreign Minister to Appear at the UN in His First US Visit

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, left, and Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attend a round table meeting at the 9th international conference in support of Syria at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, left, and Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attend a round table meeting at the 9th international conference in support of Syria at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
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Syria's New Foreign Minister to Appear at the UN in His First US Visit

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, left, and Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attend a round table meeting at the 9th international conference in support of Syria at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, left, and Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attend a round table meeting at the 9th international conference in support of Syria at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani was set to raise his country’s new flag at the United Nations headquarters in New York Friday and to attend a UN Security Council briefing, the first public appearance by a high-ranking Syrian government official in the United States since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning opposition offensive in December.

The three-starred flag that had previously been used by opposition groups has replaced the two-starred flag of the Assad era as the country's official emblem, the Associated Press said.

The new authorities in Damascus have been courting Washington in hopes of receiving relief from harsh sanctions that were imposed by the US and its allies in the wake of Assad’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011 that spiraled into a civil war.

A delegation of Syrian officials traveled to the United States this week to attend World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington and UN meetings in New York. It was unclear if Trump administration officials would meet with al-Shibani during the visit.

The Trump administration has yet to officially recognize the current Syrian government, led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, who led the offensive that toppled Assad. Washington has also so far left the sanctions in place, although it has provided temporary relief to some restrictions. The opposition group al-Sharaa led, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, remains a US-designated terrorist organization.

Two Republican members of the US Congress, Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana and Rep. Cory Mills of Florida, arrived in Damascus last week on an unofficial visit organized by a Syrian-American nonprofit and met with al-Sharaa and other government officials.

Mills told The Associated Press before meeting with al-Sharaa that “ultimately, it’s going to be the president’s decision” to lift sanctions or not, although he said that “Congress can advise.”

Mills later told Bloomberg News that he had discussed the US conditions for sanctions relief with al-Sharaa, including ensuring the destruction of chemical weapons left over from the Assad era, coordinating on counter-terrorism, making a plan to deal with foreign militants who fought alongside the armed opposition to Assad, and providing assurances to Israel that Syria would not pose a threat.

He also said that al-Sharaa had said Syria could normalize relations with Israel “under the right conditions,” without specifying what those conditions are.

Other Western countries have warmed up to the new Syrian authorities more quickly. The British government on Thursday lifted sanctions against a dozen Syrian entities, including government departments and media outlets, and the European Union has begun to roll back its sanctions.