Abu Dhabi turns to nuclear energy with second reactor

The oil-rich UAE began construction yesterday of a second nuclear power plant, one of four reactors aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions by some 12 million tonnes a year in 2020.

Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp (ENEC) said it poured the first part of safety concrete for Unit 2, in a ceremony attended by visiting Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Sang-jick Yoon.

In 2009, an international consortium led by the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp won a $20.4 billion (15.8 billion euro) deal to build four nuclear power plants in Baraka, west of Abu Dhabi.

Under the biggest single contract Seoul has ever won abroad, South Korean firms including Samsung, Hyundai and Doosan Heavy Industries will build the four 1,400-megawatt reactors.

Work began last year on the first plant, which is expected to enter service in 2017 after further regulatory approvals.

Unit 2 is to begin commercial operations in 2018. In addition to diversifying the UAE’s energy supply once operational, the four plants should cut 12 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually by 2020, ENEC said.
ENEC said it had applied in March to the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation for construction licences for Units 3 and 4, but did not indicate when work would begin.

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US technology to be used in UAE nuclear plant

Abu Dhabi: The US technical knowledge will be involved in the construction of the first-ever nuclear power plant in the UAE to be built at Baraka in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, US Ambassador to the UAE told Gulf News in an interview.

“Westinghouse’s technology will be used in the UAE nuclear project as the Korean company has a collaboration with Westinghouse,” Michael H. Corbin said on the sidelines of the ongoing Abu Dhabi Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (Adipec-2012) in the capital. Corbin did not elaborate.

Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec), the body in charge of developing the UAE’s nuclear programme, has selected a site 75 kilometres from the Saudi border on the Emirates Road, for the construction of the country’s first four nuclear plants.

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Nuclear regulator grants construction permission for Emirates’ first atomic power plant

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates, in a first among Gulf Arab states, geared up Wednesday to start building its maiden nuclear power plant after securing approval from regulators.

The license from the UAE’s Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation will make the country the first in more than two and a half decades to embark on construction of its first nuclear power plant. It covers the construction of the initial two reactors of a plant slated for a remote coastal site near the border with Saudi Arabia.

The project is designed to meet growing demand for power in the rapidly developing seven-state federation, which includes the Mideast commercial hub Dubai and the energy-rich capital Abu Dhabi. Despite its oil wealth, the OPEC member has to import natural gas to run many of its existing power plants and has struggled to keep up with demand.

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UAE nuclear plant gets environmental OK

(Reuters) - Abu Dhabi's environment agency has approved plans for the United Arab Emirates' first nuclear power plant, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) said on Sunday, adding that it is still awaiting a construction licence.

The no objection certificate from the environmental regulator is one of several approvals needed for construction to begin on the two reactors at the Barakah nuclear power plant.

"Nuclear energy is one of the ways in which Abu Dhabi is demonstrating its commitment to the environment, as nuclear energy plants emit almost zero carbon emissions during operations," ENEC chief executive officer Mohamed Al Hammadi said.

"With four nuclear energy plants delivering electricity to the grid by 2020, we will be delivering 5,600 megawatts of low carbon electricity to the national grid," he said, adding the plants should avoid emitting about 12 million tonnes of carbon each year.

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Green light for nuclear plant preparation

Mar 8, 2012

Abu Dhabi's nuclear energy company has been granted permission to prepare the groundwork for the Arab world's first nuclear reactors as it races to meet a 2017 deadline.

The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), the independent nuclear watchdog, granted Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) permission on Tuesday to carry out civil works at the site for the first two of four planned reactors.

The total cost of all the reactors is put at US$20 billion (Dh73.46bn). The first reactor is scheduled to come online in 2017 and would make the UAE the first Arab nation to produce nuclear energy.

"It allows us to maintain our momentum," said Fahad Al Qahtani, a spokesman at Enec.

"It allows us to do some of the necessary work we need to do in order to stick to our schedule, and the next milestone we are hoping for is the approval of the construction licence application."

The groundwork includes levelling the ground and laying down the piping and electrical conduits needed before the first concrete is poured at the proposed site at Braka in Al Gharbia 300km west of the capital.

Enec is awaiting the regulator's decision on a 9,000-page construction licence for the first two reactors, which it submitted in December 2010 and hopes to get a green light on by July.

A team of 60 people in the US, France and the UAE are reviewing the application. In 2009 Abu Dhabi awarded the $20bn contract for the reactors to a South Korean consortium.

This week, Hong Suk-woo, the Korean minister of knowledge economy, said the nation would like to build four more reactors in Abu Dhabi and that there was enough room at the Braka site to build them.

Enec said no decision had been made on additional reactors.

"We are now focusing on the four nuclear power plants," said Mr Qahtani.

"We are focusing on our projects, and in the future we will assess the electricity supply and demand if we want to develop more nuclear power plants."

Abu Dhabi Nuclear plant work in progress with 2017 target

Feb 13, 2012

In Abu Dhabi's remote coastal outpost of Baraka, 4,000 people are at work on the infrastructure needed to bring nuclear power to the Arab world for the first time.

The emirate hopes to produce up to a quarter of its electricity with the US$20 billion (Dh73.46bn) plant, with the first of four Korean-designed reactors scheduled to go live within six years.

"The client wants electrons in 2017," said Lee McIntire, the chairman and chief executive of CH2M Hill, the Colorado company helping to manage the programme. "That's the goal and it still appears to be very much on track."

From Denver in Colorado to Seoul, work is progressing.

Meanwhile, the board of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec), the government-owned company that will operate the plant alongside Korea Electric Power Company, travelled to South Korea this month for an update on the construction of reactors there.

On the regulatory side, a team spanning the US, France and the UAE is reviewing Enec's 9,000-page construction application. The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), the UAE's independent regulator, expects to issue its decision on the plans by mid-year.

Scholarships sponsored by Enec and FANR are recruiting high-achieving students to study science and nuclear engineering.

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