26 Mar (NucNet): Abu Dhabi’s crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and South Korean president Moon Jae-in attended an official ceremony today to mark completion of construction of the Barakah-1 nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates.
The official Emirates News Agency confirmed the milestone. It said: “With this strategic milestone achieved, Unit 1 clears the construction phase, and the project now shifts its focus to completing operational readiness preparations required to obtain the approval of the operating licence by the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, FANR.”
The agency quoted Sheikh Mohammed as saying nuclear energy will play a crucial role in the UAE’s growth by improving energy security, diversifying the economy, and creating employment opportunities, thereby helping to “secure the future of generations to come”.
Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) is the company behind the $19bn project to build four South Korean 1,345-MW APR-1400 reactors at Barakah, about 240km west of Abu Dhabi city.
In January 2018 Enec said Unit 1 was undergoing commissioning and testing before a regulatory review and receipt of the operating licence from FANR.
The government said today that construction of Units 2, 3 and 4 are 92%, 81% and 66% complete respectively. The construction of the Barakah station as a whole is 86% complete.
Once the four reactors are online, the facility will provide around 25% of the country’s electricity requirements, the government said.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, construction of Barakah-1 began in July 2012.
