Egypt plans to build first nuclear plant by 2019

Egypt's minister of electricity says the country plans to build its first nuclear power and have it fully operational by 2019.

The state-owned MENA news agency quotes Hassan Youniss as saying on Saturday that Egypt also plans to build three more nuclear plants by 2025.

Youniss said Egypt will open international bidding for the plantÕs construction at the end of the year.

The facility is expected to cost between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion.

President Hosni Mubarak first announced plans to build a number of nuclear power plants in 2007, reviving a program that was publicly shelved in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl accident at a Soviet nuclear plant in what is now Ukraine. 

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