UAE nuclear regulator approves the functioning of Barakah power station second unit
An official from the regulator stated on Tuesday that the nuclear regulator in United Arab Emirates has delivered a functioning license for the second unit of the Barakah nuclear power station.
The station in the al-Dhafrah region of Abu Dhabi is one of the seven emirates that constituting the UAE and the nation’s capital. In fact, it’s the first nuclear power station in the Arab world and part of the Gulf oil producer’s efforts to differentiate its energy combination.
In August, Barakah’s Unit 1 was linked to the national power network and in December it reached 100 percent of reactor power capacity during testing.
Deputy President of Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) and the UAE’s representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Hamad Al Kaabi, informed journalists that it’s expected that the Unit 1’s commercial operations would start this year.
Indeed, the project has confronted some postponements; certain are related to training staff as the country constructs a nuclear industry from the zero.
The establishment of the Unit 1 started in 2012 and the station was expected to start up in 2017, however; FANR did not give a license to the operator Nawah Energy Company until February 2020. Nawah is applied for the first time to FANR for licenses for the two units in 2015.
Barakah is being constructed by Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO), an once completed, it would have four reactors with 5,600 megawatts (MW) of total capacity, equivalent to around 25 percent of the UAE’s peak demand. Al Kaabi also said that the building of Unit 3 is achieved by 94 percent and Unit 4 is completed by 87 percent.
When he asked about security at the station, he said that procedures were taken to protect the site from physical and cyber threats. But, he didn’t provide more details.
Otherwise, the Houthi movement in Yemen, where the UAE was involved in a conflict for many years, stated that in 2017 it had attacked by missile the station. But, the UAE authorities denied that.
