The Australian company will propose five additional sites that are suitable for nuclear power plants. Sites expected to be on the list are al-Negeila, Hamam Firaon and Safaga. The inclusion of these locations was cited by Hassan Younes, Egypt's Minister of Electricity. His statements were made at a ceremony celebrating the signing of the consultancy agreement with WorleyParsons.

The Prme Minister of Egypt, Ahmed Nazif, added that this action was key to making Egypt a regional spoke for all types of energy and was very important to Egypt's future.

The consultancy agreement between Egypt and WorleyParsons is a 10 year deal and calls for WorleyParsons to select the reactor technology, develop a plan for quality control of the overall project, train and educate the staff that will run the nuclear power plan and provide ongoing technical services.

Bechtel Power Corporation, a U.S. based energy firm, was beat out by WorleyParsons when talks with Bechtel Power fell apart. WorleyParsons was the second place finisher in the Egyptian held tender to select consultants for Egypt's first nuclear reactor plant.

Egyptian officials announced in October of 2007 that they wished to build several nuclear power plants to meet ongoing and growing energy needs of the country. Consulting firms from Russia, France, Kazakhstan and China placed bids in addition to the U.S. and Australia based companies.

In 1981, Egypt ratified the nuclear treaty for Non-Proliferation. In 2008 Egypt refused to sign a newer protocol giving the U.N. the right to conduct short notice inspections of facilities involved in nuclear research or production.