Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) managing director and chief executive officer Mohamed Ibrahim Al Hammadi has been appointed as the new president of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) after being voted in by members during the association’s biennial general meeting in Prague, Czech Republic.

Mr Al Hammadi is the first Emirati and first Arab appointed president of WANO, a not-for-profit international nuclear safety organisation whose more than 120 members operate more than 430 nuclear energy reactors around the world.

A statement released by Enec, owner of the four-unit Barakah nuclear power station project in the United Arab Emirates, said with newcomer nations looking to join WANO to support them in the development of their own civil nuclear facilities, many see the UAE and its Barakah project as a benchmark for the delivery of civil nuclear energy to the highest standards of safety, quality and transparency.