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UAE keen to start next nuclear plant phase

18 July 2024

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The UAE government could start the tendering process this year for the state's next nuclear power plant, located in Abu Dhabi, according to a Reuters report citing a senior UAE government official.

According to the report, Hamad Alkaabi, the UAE's permanent representative to the Austria-based International Atomic Energy Agency, said: "The government is looking at this option. No final decision has been made in terms of the tender process but I can tell you that the government is actively exploring this option."

The government has yet to budget for a second power plant or decide on the size or location of such a project, but Alkaabi said it is possible a tender could be issued this year, the report added.

A significant increase in electricity use over the next decade, driven by population growth and an expanding industrial sector, underpins the plan to proceed with the next phase of the state's civilian nuclear power programme.

Any new power plant would likely consist of two or four reactors, said Alkaabi, who also serves as the deputy chairman of the board of management of the UAE's Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation.

The next phase of the Barakah power plant, comprising reactors five to eight, has been in the planning stage since 2019, according to regional projects tracker MEED Projects.

The UAE became the first Arab state to operate a nuclear power plant when the first of the four reactors at Abu Dhabi’s Barakah nuclear power plant became operational in 2021.

Each of the four reactors at the Barakah nuclear power plant can produce 1,400MW of electricity.

Three of the plant’s four reactors are operational. Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation's operating and maintenance subsidiary, Nawah Energy Company, completed the loading of fuel assemblies into Unit 4 in December 2023. 

Unit 4 will raise the Barakah plant’s total clean electricity generation capacity to 5,600MW, equivalent to 25% of the UAE’s electricity needs.

Korea Power Corporation is the prime contractor for the $24.4bn first phase of the Barakah nuclear power plant.

GlobalData expects nuclear power capacity in the Middle East and North Africa region to grow from zero in 2020 to an estimated 7.1GW by 2030, mainly thanks to Abu Dhabi’s Barakah nuclear energy plant and the first reactors of Egypt’s El-Dabaa nuclear power plant.

The UAE is one of more than 20 countries that committed to tripling global nuclear energy capacity by 2050 at the UN climate change summit Cop28, which was held in Dubai in late 2023.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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