Two workers die in accident at UAE nuclear plant site

Three others are also injured at Barakah in a construction-related incident, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation says.

The first nuclear reactor at Barakah, in the Western Region, is set to go online next year. Christopher Pike / The National

ABU DHABI // Two construction workers were killed and three injured in an accident at the Barakah nuclear energy plant site in Al Gharbia.

The five men were working with a man basket held by a crane. The May 12 accident did not happen in any nuclear-related building, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation said.

The company “expressed our sincere condolences to the families affected and our hearts and prayers continue to go out to them in relation to their loss”.

Compensation has been paid to the dead men’s families and the injured men were treated in hospital. All five were employed by a subcontractor of the Korea Electric Power Corporation, or Kepco, which is the main Barakah contractor.

Enec said the contractor had identified the cause of the accident and had taken corrective action.

The company said it was “committed to ensuring lessons learnt are embedded into training and procedures to ensure the nuclear-industry culture of safety continues”.

This was the first loss of life as a result of construction at the Barakah site, Enec said. There have been almost 190 million man-hours since building began in 2009, and more than 19,000 workers are employed at the site.

Kepco, the world’s third-largest nuclear energy company, was awarded the prime contract to design, build and operate four 1,400MW nuclear power plants at Barakah. The first is expected to start operating next year and the other three by 2020.