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The Barakah nuclear plant’s final reactor is ready to go live: The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) revealed the completion of the Barakah nuclear power plant after the last of the plant’s four nuclear reactors was fully loaded with fuel, ENEC said in a statement yesterday. ENEC’s operating and maintenance subsidiary, Nawah Energy Company, concluded loading fuel assemblies into the reactor, bringing the UAE’s first nuclear power plant to the brink of operational capacity.
The nuclear energy watchdog greenlit Nawah’s license last month: The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) granted Nawah a license in November, authorizing it to operate the fourth reactor of the Barakah nuclear plant for 60 years, Wam reported.
About Barakah: Built by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), ENEC launched the plant’s commercial operations in 2021, making it the first nuclear power station in the region. The three currently operational reactors, which were launched in three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023, provide around 30 TW of clean energy annually. Once operational, the fourth reactor will raise the plant’s capacity to 5.6 GW, enabling the Barakah plant to generate 25% of the country’s total electricity until at least 2083, according to ENEC. The third unit added 1.4 GW to the UAE grid back in February. Once all four reactors are fully operational, the Barakah power plant is expected to offset up to 22 mn tons of emissions annually.
ENEC still wants more: The government and ENEC have entered into talks with South Korean nuclear energy developers to build two additional reactors, at a total value of USD 15.3 bn, Pulse News, a Korean press outlet, reported in August. The Barakah One Company — a JV between ENEC and Kepco — had refinanced the 5.6 GW Barakah nuclear plant with help from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank in July.
UAE is loving nuclear energy: ENEC had inked three agreements in May with Chinese nuclear energy firms to cooperate in nuclear energy, high temperature gas-cooled reactors, and nuclear fuel supply and investment. ENEC also signed an agreement last week with small modular reactor (SMR) developers Moltex Flex and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation to scale the usage of SMR nuclear technologies both in the UAE and abroad.
What’s next? ENEC is expected to commence operating the fourth reactor in 2024. Once connected to the electricity grid, Nawah will continue to raise the fourth phase’s power levels in a process known as Power Ascension Testing (PAT). The reactor will be monitored until it reaches its maximum production capacity.
