The third reactor of the Abu Dhabi Barakah nuclear power plant has reached commercial operation, according to the UAE Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (Fanr).

The regulator issued a 60-year operating licence to the plant’s unit 3 in June last year. 

During the intervening period, Fanr has continued conducting regulatory oversight, which included fuel loading and testing; the criticality phase; connecting the unit to the UAE national electricity transmission grid; and ensuring that the plant is ready for full commercial operation. 

The second unit at Abu Dhabi’s Barakah nuclear energy plant started commercial operations and was linked to the UAE grid in March last year.

Each of the four nuclear reactors at the plant has the capacity to generate 1,400MW of electricity.

The amount of clean electricity generated has doubled in less than a year since unit one was added to the power grid, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) chairman Khaldoon Khalifa al-Mubarak said at the time.

“With two more units to follow, and against the backdrop of spiralling global natural gas prices, the significance of the nuclear sector in clean, commercially competitive energy generation only grows,” Al-Mubarak noted.

Construction work on unit two was completed in July 2020. Unit two completed hot functional testing in August 2018 and structural integrity testing and integrated leak rate testing in March 2019.

Nuclear pivot

In January, it was reported that Abu Dhabi plans to invest up to $30bn in South Korea’s nuclear power, defence, hydrogen and solar energy industries.

This was followed by the signing of a nuclear cooperation deal between the two countries’ main nuclear companies, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec).

Other areas of cooperation include future technology development and joint research, such as small modular and micro-reactors.

Korea’s Nuclear Safety & Security Commission (NSSC) also signed an administrative agreement with Fanr that will lead to a simplified nuclear export permit procedure between the two countries.

This development confirmed some analysts’ expectation that the $100bn US-UAE Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy (Pace) announced in November will primarily support the UAE’s nuclear energy pivot.

Korea Power Corporation (Kepco) is the prime contractor for the Barakah nuclear power plant.

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