Abu Dhabi (AFP)
The United Arab Emirates announced on Saturday the entry into service of its civilian nuclear power plant in Barakah, the first in the Arab world.
"We are announcing today that the United Arab Emirates have successfully commissioned the first reactor at the Barakah plant, the first in the Arab world," tweeted Sheikh Mohammed ben Rached al-Maktoum, Prime Minister of the Emirates and ruler of Dubai.
"This is a historic moment for the Emirates in their objective to provide a new form of clean energy to the nation," said Hamad Alkaabi, the representative of the Emirates to the International Atomic Energy Agency. (IAEA).
The Emirati authorities had given the green light in February to the operation of the nuclear power station located in the north-west of the country, without giving a date for its commissioning.
Founded in 2016, Nawah Energy Company is to eventually operate and maintain the four reactors to be installed there, according to the company's website.
Construction is being carried out by a consortium led by Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and South Korea's Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), at an estimated cost of $ 24.4 billion.
The first of the four reactors was to be commissioned at the end of 2017 but the start date has been postponed several times to meet, according to officials, the legal safety conditions.
When fully operational, the four reactors will have the capacity to produce 5,600 megawatts of electricity, or about 25% of the needs of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.
The federal state, made up of seven emirates, has a population of 9.3 million, of which around 80% are expatriates.
© 2020 AFP