The United Arab Emirates on Saturday announced the startup of its Barakah nuclear power plant, a first for the Arab world.
“UAE first nuclear reactor at the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant has achieved first criticality and successfully started up,” tweeted Hamad Alkaabi, the country’s representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“This is a historic milestone for the nation with a vision set to deliver a new form of clean energy for the nation,” he tweeted in English.
The UAE has been constructing four nuclear reactors at its Barakah power plant, the Arab world’s first nuclear pow
he UAE premier and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, tweeted that work at Barakah had “succeeded in loading nuclear fuel packages, carrying out comprehensive tests and successfully completing the operation.”
“Congratulations on realizing this historic achievement in the energy sector & marking this milestone in the roadmap for sustainable development,” Al-Maktoum said.
The UAE started loading fuel rods into the reactor at Barakah in February, after regulators gave the green light for the first of the plant’s four reactors, opening the way for commercial operations.
The plant, located on the Gulf coast west of the UAE’s capital, had been due to come online in late 2017 but faced a number of delays that officials attributed to safety and regulatory requirements.
It was built by a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation in a deal worth over $20 billion. READ MORE
