Fuel assembly complete on second unit of Barakah nuclear plant

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation said testing on the unit will be carried out before it becomes operational

Some of the Emirati staff behind the nuclear project, which has been more than a decade in the making. All photos courtesy Fanr

The UAE's nuclear regulator issued an operating licence for the first reactor at Barakah in February 2020

Delivering the project has been a feat of engineering. As many as 18,000 people worked on the project at the height of construction.

Fifty-three Emiratis have recently been certified as senior reactor operators and many more will be needed in coming years

There is growing interest among new Emirati graduates to enter the nuclear training programmes

Nuclear plays a significant part in targets to reduce gas-fired power generation to 38 per cent by 2050, along with renewable energy from solar and some clean coal.

“The nuclear programme has huge upfront costs to provide a certain level of security," Hamad Al Kaabi said. "But once you make that investment in the construction of the plant, the operation and fuel cost is very minimal compared to the overall cost.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed previously said Barakah is a "new chapter in our journey for the development of peaceful nuclear energy"

"As we prepare for the next 50 years to safeguard our needs, our biggest strength is national talent," Sheikh Mohamed said.

The four huge reactors at Barakah

Hamad Al Kaabi, the UAE's permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Christer Viktorsson, director general of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, speak about the first reactor to be licensed in February. Khushnum Bhandari for The National

The UAE's Barakah nuclear power plant has achieved another key milestone with testing set to get under way on the second unit of the facility.

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) announced on Tuesday that fuel assembly had been completed on Unit 2 of the four-reactor plant in Abu Dhabi.

Testing will now begin ahead of the reactor being fired up.

In August, the UAE became the first Arab country to produce nuclear energy after Unit 1 became operational.

The unit was fully operational by December and is capable of generating 1400 megawatts of electricity for the nation's grid.

Once Barakah's four reactors are online, the plant will deliver clean, efficient and reliable electricity for decades, providing about a quarter of the country’s electricity and eliminating up to 21 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

That is comparable to taking 3.2 million cars off the roads each year.

Barakah, in Al Dhafra, is the cornerstone of the UAE's peaceful nuclear energy programme.

Construction began in 2012 and it was built in partnership with the Korea Electric Power Corporation.

Last year it was revealed that construction of Units 3 and 4 was in its final stages – 93 per cent and 87 per cent complete respectively – benefiting from lessons learnt during the construction of Units 1 and 2.

The Barakah complex as a whole is now more than 95 per cent complete.