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Small reactors top nuclear agenda

25 August 2023

This package also includes: Mena pushes for nuclear future

 

Small modular reactor (SMR) solutions could offset concerns about capital expenditure, construction delays and spent-fuel reprocessing that large-scale nuclear power plants present.

SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300MW a unit, which is about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

They can be factory-assembled, transported and installed in locations not suitable for larger nuclear power plants, such as industrial zones or remote areas with limited grid capacity. This makes them more affordable and easier to build than large reactors.

So far, there are only two advanced SMR installations globally, one in China and the other in Russia. The US’ NuScale is also working towards deploying its first modules in Idaho.

Saudi Arabia and Jordan have been considering deploying SMR solutions as part of their nuclear power programmes.

In 2020, King Abdullah City for Atomic & Renewable Energy (KA-Care) and South Korea’s Science & ICT (Information & Communication Technology) Ministry set up a joint venture to undertake the commercialisation and construction of South Korea’s system-integrated modular advanced reactor technology in the kingdom with the help of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.

Nuclear energy is having a revival moment as a recognised part of climate mitigation
Karen Young, Centre on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University

Seeking partners

Jordan, for its part, signed an agreement with Russia for the construction of two 1,000MW reactors in 2015, but the project was cancelled three years later.

Jordan is now considering small nuclear reactors and is talking to potential partners including Russia, South Korea, France and the UK to determine the optimal technical specifications and how to adapt the reactors to the Jordanian environment, Khaled Toukan, chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, said in April.

Jordan hopes to use small nuclear reactors for water desalination and power production.

“We have done all the studies,” Toukan said at the time. “The infrastructure is in place, and studies on site selection and the provision of cooling water are in place. Now, we are comparing technologies and we want to get the go-ahead from the government.”

According to Karen Young, a senior research scholar at the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University in the US, “nuclear energy is having a revival moment as a recognised part of climate mitigation”. 

She says: “We simply do not have other ways of ramping up non-carbon energy production as easily. Technology innovations in SMRs, among others, make this look like a more viable option.”

However, SMRs are as yet unproven, points out Paddy Padmanathan, co-founder and vice-chairman of green hydrogen firm Zhero. He adds that solar and wind projects with battery energy storage systems cost significantly less, despite the subsidies some governments allocate to nuclear power plant projects.

We simply do not have other ways of ramping up non-carbon energy production as easily

Spent fuel

Regardless of a nuclear plant’s size, the storage or reprocessing of the resulting highly radioactive solid waste is a key safety and environmental concern. 

Nuclear reactors require ceramic pellets of low-enriched uranium oxide. These are stacked vertically and encased in metallic cladding to form a fuel rod. The fuel rods are bundled into fuel assemblies that are placed into the reactor. 

The fuel pellets remain in the reactors for five or six years of operation, or until the fission process uses up the uranium fuel. 

The US, which generates about 2,000 tonnes of spent fuel a year, stores the solid waste across 70 reactor sites in the country. Research and development into how to recycle spent fuel, or to design advanced reactors that could consume it, is also under way.

With 58 nuclear power plants generating over 70 per cent of its electricity, France produces nearly 1,150 tonnes of spent fuel a year. Unlike the US, France recycles spent fuel through a process that converts spent plutonium – formed in nuclear power reactors as a by-product of burning uranium fuel – and uranium into a mixed oxide that can be reused in nuclear plants to produce more electricity.

In Iran, meanwhile, the policy at the 1,000MW Bushehr reactor entails cooling down spent fuel in an onsite pool, a process that takes at least five years. It is then transported in steel cylinders that are welded closed to a central storage location in the country’s Anarak region.

UAE policy

The UAE government is developing a long-term storage policy for spent fuel from its Barakah nuclear power plant, the first reactor of which began producing electricity in 2021. The current plan involves placing the fuel assemblies in concrete and steel-lined cooling pools located at the Barakah plant, after which they will be stored in dry casks either on site or at a long-term storage facility.

According to Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, the UAE still has plenty of time to make decisions about spent-fuel management, as the first batch of nuclear fuel will be stored for 20-30 years in the spent-fuel pool.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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    > This package also includes: Dubai eyes tourism sector recovery

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    The 2026 figure is already the highest since 2024, when $6.1bn in contracts were awarded, and sits above every year from 2020 to 2023, despite the disruption to visitor flows since conflict broke out on 28 February. 

    Last year’s total was the weakest in the post-pandemic period, suggesting that the awards now coming through may partly reflect delayed commitments that were held back during a period of elevated construction cost inflation before being released into the market as conditions stabilised.

    Future pipeline

    The near-term outlook for new project commitments is uncertain, with developers and investors watching the conflict’s trajectory and its effect on visitor demand before finalising capital allocation. While there is caution, governments have signalled a firm commitment to their tourism ambitions.

    The clearest signal came in late May, when Alec Engineering & Contracting received a letter of award for the construction of the Sphere Abu Dhabi, a $1.7bn immersive entertainment venue to be built on Yas Island. That Abu Dhabi was prepared to formalise a contract of this scale during an active regional conflict carries its own significance: sovereign-backed tourism infrastructure programmes are not being paused.

    In Dubai, another major contract award is approaching. Dubai Holding is preparing to appoint a contractor for the Jumeirah Asora Bay Hotel in the La Mer area, developed alongside the Jumeirah Residences Asora Bay in partnership with Meraas. The proximity of the contract award to the conflict period indicates the same institutional logic: Dubai’s long-term tourism infrastructure programme continues to advance on its own timeline, independent of near-term demand conditions.

    Upgrade cycle

    If governments are pressing ahead with new tourism infrastructure, operators of existing properties are turning the reduced footfall to their own advantage. A wave of hotel refurbishments has gained pace in Dubai in recent months, with several properties having closed or partially closed for renovation work that, in many cases, had been planned well before the conflict began. The reduction in visitor numbers has created an opportune window to carry out disruptive works without sacrificing commercial performance.

    The most prominent examples are the Jumeirah Burj Al-Arab, which has closed for an 18-month restoration programme, and the Armani Hotel Dubai, which occupies floors within the Burj Khalifa and has also closed for a full overhaul, with a planned reopening in the last quarter of 2026.

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  • Dubai eyes tourism sector recovery

    29 June 2026

     

    Dubai’s tourism sector was in a position of strength when the regional conflict began on 28 February. 

    Full-year figures published by the Dubai Department of Economy & Tourism (DET) in February confirmed that the emirate welcomed 19.59 million international overnight visitors in 2025, a 5% increase on the 18.72 million recorded in 2024, and a third consecutive year of record-setting arrivals. The city received more than 2 million visitors in a single calendar month when December 2025 closed with 2.04 million arrivals, 6% ahead of the same period in 2024.

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    Western Europe remained the largest source market, contributing 4.1 million arrivals and accounting for 21% of total visitors, while the GCC and Middle East and North Africa regions together represented 26% , with 2.99 million and 2.17 million arrivals, respectively. South Asia, the CIS and Eastern Europe each contributed 2.89 million visitors.

    The regional context was similarly buoyant. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 2026 Economic Impact Research, Middle East travel and tourism GDP expanded 5.3% in 2025, outpacing the global sector average of 4.1%. 

    The UAE’s travel and tourism sector reached $68.5bn in GDP contribution in 2025, with international visitor spending of $56.9bn. Pre-conflict, WTTC had forecast $207bn in international visitor spending across the Middle East for 2026.

    Sudden shock

    The outbreak of conflict on 28 February produced a swift and serious impact across the regional tourism ecosystem. Within days, the WTTC estimated losses of at least $600m a day in international visitor spending across the Middle East, as air travel was disrupted, traveller confidence weakened and regional connectivity fractured. 

    The major Gulf aviation hubs including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Bahrain, which together process about 526,000 passengers daily, experienced closures and operational disruption. On the day the conflict began, the EU Aviation Safety Agency issued a bulletin on the dangers of flying in the airspace of 11 countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. 

    The data for the first quarter of 2026 reflects the scale of the disruption. According to UN Tourism’s latest World Tourism Barometer, international arrivals across the Middle East fell 14% in the first quarter of 2026, with hotel occupancy in the region declining sharply to 48% in March from 75% in January, against a global average of 64%. 

    International air traffic among Middle Eastern carriers fell 61% in March, measured in revenue passenger-kilometres, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata), dragging overall global international traffic into modest contraction for the month.

    The conflict also introduced structural complications that extended beyond the immediate decline in arrivals. Several major source markets, including the UK, issued advisories against all but essential travel to the UAE. The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) guidance cited the risk of renewed strikes on civilian infrastructure, including ports, hotels, roads and airports, and advised residents to consider departing if their presence was not essential. 

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    Emirates and Etihad Airways both moved to address the insurance gap directly ahead of the FCDO change. On 17 June, Emirates launched a comprehensive travel cover product developed in partnership with insurance provider Travel Guard, offering medical cover for conflict-related incidents, trip cancellation cover, compensation for baggage delay or loss, and unlimited medical expense and emergency evacuation cover worldwide. The product is available across 27 markets.

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    Data from UK-based analytics firm GlobalData illustrates both the scale of the expected contraction and the strength of the projected recovery. UAE international arrivals, which reached approximately 30 million in 2025, are forecast to fall to about 26.4 million in 2026 – a decline of roughly 12% – before rebounding sharply to 32.1 million in 2027. 

    GlobalData’s projections then show continued growth to about 33.5 million in 2028, 35.1 million in 2029 and 36.6 million by 2030. 

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    The GlobalData numbers place the 2026 contraction in a longer historical context. UAE arrivals grew almost uninterrupted from 8.4 million in 2009 to 25.6 million in 2019, before collapsing to 8.4 million in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The subsequent recovery was among the fastest recorded for any major destination: arrivals reached 22 million in 2022, crossed 26.3 million in 2023 and climbed to 28.7 million in 2024 before the 2025 peak. 

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    The near-term contraction nevertheless remains substantial. A decline from approximately 30 million to 26.4 million in a single year represents the sharpest drop in UAE arrivals outside the pandemic, and it comes at a point when the sector had been tracking well ahead of pre-pandemic levels.

    Past experience

    Historical precedent from comparable disruptions points to a consistent pattern: recovery shape is determined less by the severity of the initial decline than by the duration of the disrupting event and the speed at which the perception of the source market resets.

    Single-event incidents with clear endpoints and no sustained security overhang have historically produced the fastest recoveries, with arrivals returning to trend within 12 months. Sustained conflicts or events that trigger prolonged travel advisory regimes produce more extended recovery arcs, with source market confidence rather than operational conditions defining the timeline. 

    The Egypt Metrojet bombing in 2015 remains the most instructive cautionary example for the Gulf: Russian airspace restrictions imposed after the incident kept a major source market out of the Egyptian market for more than five years, with arrivals recovery lagging the resolution of the underlying security concern by a significant margin.

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    The DET’s response is structured around three priorities: operational continuity, sector support and market confidence. The government announced a AED2.5bn ($612.7m) support package targeting the tourism, hospitality and entertainment sectors, structured to protect business continuity, preserve employment and maintain visitor experience standards. Dubai is doing all it can, but much depends on how quickly perceptions shift.

    Pilgrimages drive Saudi tourism

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    Hajj is a structural pillar of Saudi religious tourism, which alongside Umrah, draws tens of millions of visitors to Mecca and Medina each year. The sector sits at the core of Vision 2030’s tourism diversification strategy, which targets 150 million visits a year by the end of the decade. 

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    State water offtaker Sharakat has extended bidding for the contract to develop the $150m Riyadh East independent sewage treatment plant (ISTP).

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    The Ras Mohaisen-Baha-Mecca IWTS involves constructing an approximately 325km-long greenfield IWTS with a capacity of 542,000 cm/d, delivering water from Ras Mohaisen to the Adham and Aradhiyah regions.

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    Bidding for both schemes has been extended several times since tendered last September under the public-private partnership model.

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    As previously reported, local firms Alkhorayef Water & Power Technologies, Mutlaq Damook Al-Ghowairi Contracting, Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works and Al-Rawaf Trading & Contracting, among other companies, were expected to submit bids for the main contract.

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    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17474889/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall