December 8th, 2022, Prof. Dr. Amgad Saeed Al-Wakeel, Chairman of the Egyptian Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA), concluded the activities of the 6th Arab Forum on the prospects for electricity generation and seawater desalination with nuclear energy, emphasizing the following recommendations:
1- Affirming the advanced steps of the Egyptian national program for building nuclear power plants and appreciating the strenuous efforts that led to its implementation.
2- Appreciating the Forum’s adoption of the Arab 2030 Strategy for the peaceful uses of atomic energy. And urging Arab countries that are not members of the Arab Atomic Energy Authority to join in support of its pivotal role as an Arab house of expertise for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
3- Encouraging Arab countries to realize the option of nuclear energy in their electricity generation matrix within their strategies to diversify and integrate energy sources, and provide them with long-term government support, and to emphasize the role of the Arab Atomic Energy Agency to coordinate between them.
4- Benefiting from the Arab momentum due to establishing the Arab Market for Electricity and Arab electrical interconnection projects and their integration with the Arab approach to generating electricity using nuclear technologies.
5- Emphasis on benefiting from the experiences gained in the Arab countries that have started building nuclear reactors and benefiting from their technical cadres; to support countries that plan to build nuclear power plants for electricity generation and seawater desalination. This is while supporting the role of national companies and the private sector in implementing the projects while maintaining a rational balance between them and foreign companies.
6- The importance of the coordination between educational institutions and bodies working in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy to provide the necessary educational structure to serve peaceful nuclear energy programs and introduce nuclear science in educational institutions in all its stages to raise awareness of its importance and meet the needs of Arab nuclear programs for scientifically qualified cadres.
7- Inviting the Arab Atomic Energy Authority to complete its efforts to establish a training center to prepare and qualify the cadres needed for nuclear programs, with this center containing a simulator of nuclear power reactor and arranging the necessary resources to build it.
8- Taking advantage of the momentum of graduating the first batch from the Advanced Technical School of Nuclear Energy Technology in Egypt, and considering supporting it as a center for all students and specialists from all Arab and African countries.
9- Intensifying awareness-raising media campaigns about nuclear energy at the national and international levels to raise the level of confidence and public acceptance of the importance of nuclear energy for electricity generation and desalination.
10- Considering the use of nuclear SMRs as one of the promising solutions to overcome the challenges related to: the capacity of local grids, the choice of locations for nuclear plants, the limited cooling water, and the provision of financing sources.
11- Emphasizing the necessity for the countries that will be building nuclear power plants to establish independent and effective oversight agencies equipped with material and human resources, and to develop the legislative frameworks. As well as supporting the Arab Network of Regulatory Bodies and the Arab Road Map for cooperation in the field of preparedness and response to nuclear and radiological emergencies.
12- The call for the continuation of this forum as an important specialized Arab platform to assist Arab countries in exploring the option of including nuclear energy within their strategies for the uses of electricity generation and seawater desalination.
13- Expanding feasibility studies on using nuclear power, especially small reactors, as a carbon-neutral source for hydrogen production.
