The United Arab Emirates took a final step toward switching on the Arab world’s first commercial nuclear power plant, even as the country prospers by producing and selling fossil fuels.
It is a historic moment for UAE as it has issued a license for a reactor at its Barakah nuclear power plant, the first in the Arab world.
The national nuclear regulator “has approved the issuance” of the operating licence for the first of four reactors at the plant,said Hamad al-Kaabi, the UAE representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“This is a historic moment for the UAE, making it the first Arab country in the region to operate a nuclear power plant,” Kaabi told a press conference.
The Barakah plant, located on the Gulf coast west of the UAE’s capital, had been due to come online in late 2017 but faced a number of delays that officials attributed to safety and regulatory requirements.
The plant is being built by a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation in a deal worth over USD 20 billion. When fully operational, the four reactors have the capacity to generate 5,600 megawatts of electricity, around 25 percent of the nation’s needs. The remaining three reactors are almost ready for operation.
“Barakah was meant to be the showcase for the international nuclear industry,” said Mycle Schneider, an independent analyst. “Grid connection is at least three years late, and there is no doubt that it is way over budget.”
Barakah is the first of four civilian reactors that the government plans to fire up by 2023. The plants, located on a sparsely populated strip of desert on the Persian Gulf coast, are estimated to cost $25 billion.
The U.A.E. expects them to produce as much as 5.6 gigawatts once they’re fully commissioned, or almost a fifth of the country’s current installed generating capacity.
Barakah marks a new milestone for the region. The UAE, third-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is trying to diversify its domestic energy supply and lessen its dependence on oil. Dubai, the country’s business hub, targets meeting 75% of its needs from solar energy and other renewables by 2050.
Nawah Energy Co. — the venture between Kepco and state-run Emirates Nuclear Corp. that will operate all four of the U.A.E.’s plants — waited almost two years after the first one was completed before getting the green light from regulators to load it with fuel.
Nawah Energy “can fulfill all the safety requirements of the U.A.E.,” ChristerViktorsson, head of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, said Monday at a news conference in Abu Dhabi.
