Egypt’s House of Representatives approved a government bill amending provisions of Law No. 7 of 2010 regulating nuclear and radiological activities at its plenary session on 29 March 2026, despite controversy among MPs.
Before the final vote, the Energy and Environment Committee, chaired by Tarek Al Molla, and the plenary, chaired by Hisham Badawi, held extensive discussions. Supporters said the changes would close legislative gaps and strengthen the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA); opponents warned of implications for public health and national security.
The law is Egypt’s principal framework for nuclear energy use. It regulates nuclear and radiological practices and establishes oversight intended to protect people, property and the environment from radiation hazards.
Article 110 at the centre of the controversy
The amendments cover five provisions: Article 3, new Articles 14 bis, 26 bis and 62 bis, and Article 110. The last drew the strongest objections. Government representatives and supporters argued that the changes address gaps, while critics focused on the risks of allowing financial settlements for serious offences.
Article 110 allows ENRRA to settle offences covered by Articles 105, 106, 107 and 108 once the causes of a violation have been removed. The amount depends on the stage of the criminal proceedings.
Before a case is referred to court, the payment must be between the statutory minimum and maximum fine. After referral but before a final judgment, it must be at least twice the minimum and no more than the maximum. After a final judgment, it must be between the maximum and twice the maximum.
Malek Adly, a Court of Cassation lawyer and director of the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights, says Articles 105–108 include extremely serious offences directly affecting nuclear safety and public health.
He explains that Article 105 criminalises breaches of controls on radioactive material passing across Egyptian borders, with penalties including aggravated imprisonment and a fine of at least EGP 1 million. Article 106 concerns unlicensed nuclear or radiological activity and operating facilities without safety requirements, carrying imprisonment of five to seven years.
Article 107 addresses matters including food or products exceeding permitted radiation limits and transporting radioactive material without authorisation. Article 108 covers failures to report leaks or missing radioactive material, obstruction of inspectors and breaches of nuclear safety systems.
Adly criticises the amendment for allowing criminal proceedings to end through financial payments at different stages. Removing the immediate cause of an infringement, he argues, does not undo the resulting environmental or health damage.
“Environmental and radiological offences can have consequences lasting for many years,” he says, calling for stronger deterrence rather than settlement. He warns that expanding reconciliation for such offences is a dangerous legislative course, particularly where food safety, radioactive waste transport and environmental security are concerned.
Hisham Eissa, a member of the Arab Environmental Experts Union, sees the changes as primarily administrative and organisational rather than technical, aimed at strengthening ENRRA’s oversight of peaceful nuclear activities in power generation and medicine.
He says the settlement provision has caused uncertainty because procedures and safeguards are not clear enough. The legal framework needs precise definitions of the offences covered, authorised operators and waste handling, including burial and safe disposal, to protect health and the environment.
Nuclear safety and future generations’ rights
The amendments come as Egypt prepares to operate El Dabaa nuclear power station in Matrouh, its first nuclear electricity project. Developed with Russia’s Rosatom, it comprises four advanced Generation III+ VVER-1200 reactors, each rated at 1,200 megawatts, for a total of 4,800 MW. The schedule cited in the Arabic report anticipates the first reactor in mid-2028 and the others progressively by 2030.
MP Mohamed Farid, of the Reform and Development Party and the Coordination of Youth Parties and Politicians, says the changes permit settlement for offences that the original law punished with severe prison terms of up to seven years. Such offences directly affect nuclear safety, he argues, and their effects cannot be erased by payment.
He cites unauthorised passage of radioactive material through Egyptian airspace, waters or land; unlicensed nuclear or radiological facilities; breaches of operating safety; and offences involving imports of radioactive waste.
Other violations are fundamentally different, he says, involving roughly a dozen procedural and operating provisions that may be capable of genuine rectification. He calls for a distinction between procedural errors suitable for settlement and offences affecting public health, sovereignty, security and the environment.
Ahmed Al Saeedy, a rights lawyer and chairman of the Egyptian Foundation for Environmental Rights, says a central problem is the exclusion of civil society, particularly environmental specialists, from legislative drafting and oversight.
Civil society helps develop environmental policy internationally, he says, but no environmental organisation was invited to debate these amendments. He argues that excluding them disregards future generations’ rights protected by constitutional Articles 32, 45 and 46.
He sees settlement after removal of the cause of an environmental violation as a serious loophole. In his account, criminal offences are generally not subject to settlement except for limited categories, whereas environmental harm may last decades and affect future generations.
Correcting a radiological emission or leak is highly complex, he stresses. The full damage may be impossible to quantify, and merely removing the cause does not erase its consequences. He warns that the amendments could allow future violations without adequate deterrence.
He calls for a legislative framework that preserves meaningful punishment and protects the environment and resources for generations to come.
Article 32 of Egypt’s Constitution treats natural resources as the people’s property and requires the state to conserve them, use them responsibly and respect future generations’ rights. It also directs the state to encourage renewable energy, investment and related research and increase the value added to raw materials where economically feasible.
Article 45 requires protection of seas, shores, lakes, waterways and nature reserves against encroachment, pollution or uses incompatible with their nature. Article 46 guarantees a healthy environment and requires measures to preserve it, use resources rationally, achieve sustainable development and safeguard future generations.
International oversight and an unresolved historical complaint
Magdy Allam, secretary-general of the Arab Environmental Experts Union, offers a different assessment. He says Egypt’s authorised medical and industrial nuclear activities operate under strict safety regulation and international agreements concerning peaceful uses, cooperation and notification of accidents.
He argues that settlements are neither arbitrary nor unrestricted because nuclear and radiological activities are subject to international oversight and inspections. He cites medical facilities using radiation as activities governed by detailed rules to minimise human and environmental risks.
Egypt signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in July 1968 and ratified it in February 1981. The treaty establishes non-proliferation commitments and supports peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
The report also describes Egypt’s ratification of the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident under Presidential Decree No. 402 of 1987, requiring notification to the IAEA and affected states where an accident may produce cross-border radiation. It cites civil liability arrangements for nuclear damage and the convention on assistance in nuclear or radiological emergencies.
On 7 November 2012, prosecutor-general Abdel Meguid Mahmoud ordered an investigation into a complaint alleging nuclear waste burial sites in Egypt, particularly Al Alamein and the Al Hammam desert on the north coast.
Members of the Bar Association’s freedoms committee filed the complaint against former president Hosni Mubarak and former prime ministers Atef Ebeid and Ahmed Nazif. It relied on a Sawt Al Umma newspaper report alleging permission for Egyptian and European businessmen to establish waste burial sites. These were allegations in a complaint, not established findings.
Although witnesses were summoned in November 2012, the Arabic report says no official public outcome confirming or denying the alleged burial had been announced by the time of its publication, and no detailed conclusion of the investigation was available.
Concerns over additional El Dabaa fees
Defending the bill, Energy and Environment Committee chairman Tarek Al Molla said it modernises the sector’s legal framework, raises ENRRA’s efficiency and equips it to enforce the law more effectively while protecting nuclear security and public health.
Practical experience exposed gaps requiring clearer concepts and stronger legal discipline, he said. The changes redefine radiological facilities more precisely and revise licence and permit fees in line with economic developments and constitutional requirements.
He said the new fees support ENRRA’s own resources and technical capacity without imposing additional burdens on citizens, applying to nuclear facilities with exemptions for medical uses. The authority gains powers including administrative seizure, regulated settlement of certain offences and oversight of local manufacture of nuclear safety components, while penalties concerning unauthorised radioactive materials are tightened.
The Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA), however, raised concerns about fees for importing radioactive materials and sources. At a committee meeting in February 2026, chairman Sherif Helmy said the proposed changes could directly affect El Dabaa’s operating costs.
The authority estimated additional annual costs of EGP 800 million to EGP 1 billion not included in feasibility studies, potentially affecting electricity production costs and the price per kilowatt-hour for consumers.
ENRRA chairman Hany Ibrahim Khadr disputed that assessment. He said the proposed fees concern research reactors only and would not impose unexpected costs on those projects; desalination plants are not covered by fee changes.
The law was previously amended by Law No. 211 of 2017, strengthening the regulator’s independence and powers and reorganising its administrative structure to keep pace with international nuclear safety and security standards.
Those changes updated definitions and coordination among relevant authorities and allowed more flexibility in managing financial and human resources to attract specialist expertise. They also revised licensing and fees and clarified responsibilities alongside strategic projects such as El Dabaa.
The latest amendments prepare the framework for the station’s operation but have prompted debate over settlement of radiological offences. The experts interviewed call for a complete framework balancing administrative flexibility with deterrence, public safety and transparent management of nuclear activities.
