Unconfirmed report says construction could start as soon as this year
The United Arab Emirates is planning to launch a tender shortly for the construction of a new nuclear power plant station that would double the number of the Gulf state’s commercial nuclear power reactors, Reuters reported.
Reuters said three sources familiar with the matter said the UAE plans to seek bids this year, potentially within the next few months, to build four new reactors.
The sources said the UAE aims to award the tender and start construction as soon as this year so that the new facility would be operational by 2032 in order to meet projected energy needs.
The tender would be open to any potential bidders, including US, Chinese and Russian firms, the sources said, adding that South Korea would not be treated as a preferred bidder.
South Korea provided four of its APR1400 units for the Barakah nuclear station, on the Persian Gulf coast west of the city of Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Barakah is the first commercial nuclear power facility in the Arab World.
Units 1, 2, and 3 at Barakah are all commercially operational while Unit 4 was recently connected to the national grid and has started generating electricity, with full commercial operation approaching.
Once commercially operational, Unit 4 will raise Barakah’s total electricity generation capacity to 5.6 GW, equivalent to 25% of the UAE’s electricity needs, delivering more than 40 TWh of electricity per year.
The three commercially operating Units at Barakah are already generating more than 30 TWh of electricity, or just over 12% of the UAE’s electricity production.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Barakah nuclear power station is already the largest single generator of electricity and the largest source of clean electricity in the region.
The UAE has said it wants to use nuclear power as the main source for generating non-hydrocarbon-based electricity.
Most of the energy produced in the UAE is from natural gas and oil. The country is also a major exporter of oil and gas with natural gas accounting for 63% of total energy supply in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency.
