Bechtel Wins Egypt Nuclear Power Contract

The Egyptian government has chosen Bechtel Power Corp as contractor to design and consult on the country's first nuclear power plant, a statement from the Ministry of Electricity and Energy said on Monday.

Bechtel offered to do the work for around 1 billion Egyptian pounds ($180 million) over a 10-year period, it said.

"It is expected that the company will be invited to discuss the articles of the agreement in preparation for signing the contract," the statement added.

The winning company will choose the technology and the site for the reactors, ensure quality control for the project, train personnel to run the power plant, and provide other technical services until the plant starts operations, it added.

Bechtel will consider five locations for the first nuclear plant, starting with Dabaa on the Mediterranean coast west of Alexandria, the site where the Egyptian government was planning to build a power station in the 1980s, officials said.

Bechtel was competing against six other consortiums, including Australia's WorleyParsons, Sweden's AF Consult, a consortium of Spain's Iberdrola and Empresarios Agrupados, a consortium of Finland's Poyry (POY1V.HE) and Invap of Argentina, a consortium including Belgian Tractebel, and a group of U.S. companies with Egypt's Excel.

Egypt said in October 2007 it would build several civilian nuclear power stations to meet its growing energy needs.

It ratified the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1981 but said last year it would not sign on to an additional protocol that would give the U.N. nuclear watchdog the right to make intrusive short-notice inspections of nuclear facilities.