{"id":74270,"date":"2022-10-10T02:06:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-10T02:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/climate\/2022\/10\/10\/should-mena-aim-to-become-a-nuclear-energy-hub\/"},"modified":"2022-10-10T02:06:24","modified_gmt":"2022-10-10T02:06:24","slug":"should-mena-aim-to-become-a-nuclear-energy-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/climate\/2022\/10\/10\/should-mena-aim-to-become-a-nuclear-energy-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"Should MENA aim to become a nuclear energy hub?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> Bill Gates thinks MENA can be a hub for nuclear: <\/strong>Bill Gates emphasized the impact MENA nuclear power projects \u2014 such as the Barakah nuclear energy plant<\/a> in the UAE \u2014 have in helping accelerate the transition to low-carbon energy sources, the National reports<\/a> the Microsoft founder as having said at an event last Thursday. \u201cThe nuclear reactors at the Barakah power plant that are operational and pumping electricity into the grid are examples of how the country is managing the transition thoughtfully,\u201d he said at the Economist Impact\u2019s Sustainability Week in Abu Dhabi. He also called upon major oil-producing nations to explore cleaner ways to extract hydrogen.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s even suggesting the region could leapfrog into fusion: <\/strong>MENA could lead by developing nuclear fusion reactors that \u201care safe and cheaper than traditional energy sources,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

SOUND SMART- What is nuclear fusion? <\/strong>In short, nuclear fusion is a reaction<\/a> that could potentially generate unlimited energy by fusing the nuclei of atoms \u2014 as opposed to splitting the nuclei of an atom in a conventional nuclear fission reaction. Fusion reactions, which power the stars, need temperatures equivalent to 100-200 mn C, so, until very recently, it had been relegated to the realm of science fiction. Recent advancements<\/a> in the technology, however, are slowly suggesting that controlled fusion reactions may be within reach \u2014 to the point that the UK greenlit the world\u2019s first fusion station <\/strong>last week<\/a><\/strong>. The caveat: The UK government said that there are \u201cno guarantees\u201d that the GBP 20 bn plant, which is set to be complete in 2040, will work.<\/p>\n

Chernobyl (and the Simpsons) gave nuclear a bad name, but remember, that was in the <\/strong>80s: <\/strong>Nuclear energy in general has had a bad rep, thanks to incidents like Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and more recently, Fukushima. But the damage from these incidents has been exaggerated. 43 people, in total, died as a result of long-term radiation from Chernobyl over the span of 25 years, according to a 2008 UN report (pdf<\/a>). That\u2019s out of around 350k people that had to be evacuated from the area. That\u2019s been in large part due to the safety measures and precautions in place back then.<\/p>\n

Safety measures, as well as data collection and sharing, have also gotten better over <\/strong>time<\/strong>, and continue to do so, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (pdf)<\/a>. The lack of any major incidents since Fukushima in 2011 (which resulted from an earthquake and tsunami) speaks volumes to safety.<\/p>\n

The UAE\u2019s Barakah is an example of nuclear done right: <\/strong>The 5.6 GW nuclear power plant \u2014 the region\u2019s first multi-unit nuclear power plant \u2014 has gotten a thumbs up from IAEA safety inspectors as recently as last month<\/a>. Barakah \u201chad strengthened operational safety by fully addressing the findings of an initial IAEA safety review mission five years ago,\u201d the IAEA said. Furthermore, the Emirati Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), which owns Barakah, signed<\/a> an MoU with the UAE Cyber Security Council yesterday to ensure cyber security response at its facilities. The plant recently inaugurated<\/a> its third 1.4 GW unit, which was connected to the national grid over the weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And the region is not far behind: Egypt<\/strong> kickstarted construction on its USD 30 bn Dabaa<\/a> nuclear power plant in July<\/a> of this year. The 4.8 GW was expected to be fully operational in 2029, with the first of four 1.4 GW reactors expected to come online in 2026. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia<\/strong> has taken steps this year toward getting a nuclear energy program underway. The country is currently studying a viable location<\/a> for a plant, after establishing a holding company to develop nuclear power back in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Gates thinks MENA can be a hub for nuclear: Bill Gates emphasized the impact MENA nuclear power projects \u2014 such as the Barakah nuclear energy plant in the UAE \u2014 have in helping accelerate the transition to low-carbon energy sources, the National reports the Microsoft founder as having said at an event last Thursday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[1013,11,1012,76,88,94,1011,46],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-74270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nuclear","tag-energy-security","tag-enterpriseclimate","tag-hydro","tag-nuclear-energy","tag-renewables","tag-solar","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wind-energy","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"ced34c8b-82c9-49d9-862f-d15547ae793d","is_powered_by":true,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2022\/10\/919.jpg","photo_position":"above","related_issue":[74266],"teaser":"","voice_url":""},"yoast_head":"\nShould MENA aim to become a nuclear energy hub? - Climate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/climate\/2022\/10\/10\/should-mena-aim-to-become-a-nuclear-energy-hub\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should MENA aim to become a nuclear energy hub?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bill Gates thinks MENA can be a hub for nuclear: Bill Gates emphasized the impact MENA nuclear power projects \u2014 such as the Barakah nuclear energy plant in the UAE \u2014 have in helping accelerate the transition to low-carbon energy sources, the National reports the Microsoft founder as having said at an event last Thursday. 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