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UAE to take nuclear plant next step

25 October 2024

 

The UAE government plans to hold a bid conference in early 2025 for the next phase of Abu Dhabi’s nuclear power plant facility.

“There are talks that the bid conference would be held in January next year,” an industry source tells MEED.

This development follows the completion of the four reactors, each capable of generating 1,400MW of electricity, at the Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi.

It is unclear which nuclear technology providers have been invited to attend the planned conference in Abu Dhabi. 

Washington and Abu Dhabi entered into the bilateral 123 Agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation in 2009, which could determine to a large extent which companies or countries will be invited to participate in the next phase of the UAE’s programme.

South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) prevailed over the US’ General Electric and France’s Engie and TotalEnergies for the $24bn-plus contract to build the first phase of Abu Dhabi’s nuclear power plant.

Phase 2

In July, it was reported that the UAE could start the tendering process this year for the state’s next nuclear power plant.

According to a Reuters report, Hamad Alkaabi, the UAE’s permanent representative to the Austria-based International Atomic Energy Agency, said that while the government has yet to budget for a second power plant or decide on the size or location of such a project, a tender could be issued this year.

Citing Alkaabi, the report added: “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 plan to proceed with the next phase of the state’s civilian nuclear power programme is based on a significant increase in electricity use over the next decade, driven by population growth and an expanding industrial sector.

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.

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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