UAE's nuclear regulator grants operating license for country's third reactor

The UAE's Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation granted June 17 the operating license for the country's third reactor as the Gulf state forges ahead with producing clean energy ahead of its 2050 net zero emissions target.

Nawah Energy Co., the operations and maintenance unit of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp., received the license to operate the third of four units at the Barakah nuclear power plant located in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, FANR officials said in a press conference June 17.

FANR expects to start looking at the operating license application for the fourth and final unit in the fourth quarter of this year, said Hamad al-Kaabi, UAE permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency and FANR's deputy chairman.

"Unit 4 is still in the final stage of construction," Kaabi said. "Once construction is complete, then the operator will inform the regulator that we are ready to be inspected."

The UAE, the only Arab country currently producing nuclear energy for power generation, is developing nuclear power as it seeks to reduce its carbon footprint after committing to have zero emissions by 2050, the first country in the Middle East to make such a pledge.

Barakah-1 started commercial operations in April 2021 after reaching 100% capacity in December 2020. ENEC said in March that Barakah-2 had begun commercial operations after being connected to the grid in September 2021.

Once its four units begin operating commercially, Barakah will supply up to 25% of the UAE's power mix. By 2025, the Barakah plant will generate more than 85% of Abu Dhabi's clean electricity, making it the biggest contributor to reducing the emirate's carbon emissions by 50% by the middle of the decade, according to ENEC.

Each of the four units in Barakah are South Korean-designed APR1400s.

ENEC may develop more nuclear power plants locally and internationally in the future after bringing online all of the four 1.4 GW units that are currently planned, its CEO Mohamed al-Hammadi told S&P Global Commodity Insights in March.

ENEC has received interest from many countries to partner with them on the development of nuclear power generation, the CEO added, without disclosing the countries.

FANR hasn't received any application yet to issue operating licenses beyond the four, he added.

"If the government decided to pursue the expansion of the number of reactors, then we will start to look at this," said Kaabi.

Under a strategy revealed in 2017, the UAE is targeting to generate 44% of its power from renewables, 38% from gas, 12% from clean coal and 6% from nuclear energy by 2050. However, officials have said the current power mix is under review. The UAE mainly uses gas for power generation now.