Abu Dhabi: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced on Saturday that it has begun operations at one of four reactors at the Barakah nuclear power station. It is the first nuclear power plant in the Arab world. UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid announced this on Twitter. The plant was earlier scheduled to start in 2017 but was repeatedly delayed due to security reasons.
Mohammed bin Rashid tweeted, “We declare the UAE’s success in operating the first peaceful nuclear power reactor in the Arab world… The task forces were successful in loading nuclear fuel packages, conducting extensive tests and successfully completing the operation.”
‘Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation’, based in Abu Dhabi (which is building and operating the plant along with Korea Electric Power Corporation), said in a press release that its subsidiary Navah Energy successfully completed Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant started.
According to reports, the UAE started loading fuel rods at the reactor in Barakah in February. For the first of the four reactors, the regulators had given the green signal, opening the way for commercial operations. 5600 MW of power will be generated after the start of the four reactors. The Barakah plant has taken nearly $ 24.4 billion to build. It can complete a quarter of the electricity supply of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE says it wants 50% of its energy to be generated from clean sources by the year 2050.
