Possible leakage, questioning the feasibility and scandals of the executing company .. Experts sound the alarm about the Emirates nuclear reactor

A report issued by international experts in the field of nuclear energy warned of what they said are environmental risks with the launch of a civilian nuclear reactor in the UAE, after repeated delays due to multiple safety problems.

The UAE announced yesterday the launching of the Barakah nuclear reactor in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi, which is the first of four reactors it is setting up as part of its efforts to expand its nuclear capabilities and energy production sources.

Abu Dhabi is counting on producing a quarter of the country's energy needs, with expectations that its operating capacity will reach 5.6 gigawatts, through these reactors in which the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation used foreign expertise, specifically South Korean expertise.

Questions and warnings,
but the Emirati celebration of the operation of its nuclear reactor does not dispel concerns about the potential risks of the new facility, and many questions have not yet been asked by energy experts regarding the project.

The experts said in a report published by the Power Technology International organization specialized in energy sources, that many concerns are circulating around the project, especially those related to any possible leakage, given the technical problems that have involved the launch of the reactor.

Experts said that the launching site of the reactor is another challenge, as the project is being built in an area full of crises, and an environment that is not reassuring for such sensitive facilities.

Experts raised questions about the real feasibility of launching the project, given that there are other alternatives to energy such as solar energy, as the priority is not by reason in the Gulf countries, which have a desert nature of nuclear energy, because of their enjoyment of the best solar energy sources in the world, and their investments in that will be at lower costs than energy Nuclear much.

The site points out that the Gulf is a crisis region whose threats to ignite remain, indicating that the Houthis targeted facilities for Saudi Aramco in late January this year, in an extension of the repercussions of the Yemen war.

While acknowledging that the UAE is involved in a number of equipment, equipment, soldiers, planning and management in this war, the possibilities of targeting it within the reactions of its opponents remain imperative with any escalation.

KEPCO… a series of scandals In
addition, the reputation of the South Korean company “KEPCO” which is implementing the project in partnership with the Emirates, has been defaced through a series of scandals, in which senior safety officials were ordered to forge safety documents for the parts used in their nuclear reactors.

These fears are presented here, given the incidents of nuclear reactors from which nuclear states have not escaped.

Warnings
The professor at the Institute of Energy at the University of London World, Paul Dorfman, has warned that accidents in nuclear reactors remain out of the question, and that their damage will then be catastrophic to the environment and people.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Dorfman noted that any such incident threatens seawater desalination activity adopted by countries in the region.

He wondered what would happen if a big accident actually occurred in the Barakah reactor or during the transportation of nuclear materials across the Gulf or through the Strait of Hormuz to the Arabian Sea?

He replied that any accident will be very expensive and will have major impacts on the environment and the people who live in the Gulf. The countries of this region depend a lot on desalination of sea water, and if any accident leads to radiation in the region, this will affect the desalination of water in the whole region.

Expensive cost
Dorfman also pointed out that the cost of producing nuclear energy is very high compared to other clean energies, noting that the cost of solar energy represents a seventh (1/7) of the cost of producing nuclear energy, which made interest in the latter decline in global markets.

He said that investing in this energy is a very bad investment, because global markets do not care much about nuclear energy because it is very expensive, and the countries that depend on it are the countries that control the field such as Russia and China.

He added that in addition to the costs, the solar energy is safer than nuclear energy, wondering, do we really need nuclear energy in this region ?!