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ABU DHABI – The Barakah Nuclear Power Plant (Barakah NPP) supports the country’s goal of achieving its Strategic Climate Neutrality by 2050 initiative by accelerating the reduction of the energy sector’s carbon footprint.
Barakah NPP also provides solutions to climate change by producing abundant, reliable and environmentally friendly electricity for domestic and commercial sectors across the country. It also reduces carbon emissions by 22.4 million tons per year, while paving the way for the development of other environmentally friendly energy technologies such as hydrogen.
The importance of producing environmentally friendly electricity is becoming more and more important in the region. As summer temperatures rise to around 40 degrees Celsius, the use of air conditioners increases, and with it comes the need for desalination of personal and irrigation water.
The UAE has made significant achievements in supporting economic growth, with the Barakah nuclear power plant being developed by the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) in the Al Dhafra region of the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Two of the four plants are now producing electricity commercially, each providing up to 1,400 megawatts of carbon-neutral electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Barakah unit is one of the largest nuclear power plants in the world in terms of production capacity. It has four APR-1400 reactors of advanced design, capable of supplying up to 25% of the UAE’s electricity needs when fully operational. This provides a continuous source of electricity that supports the country’s energy sources without any carbon emissions, making the UAE’s peaceful nuclear programme an ideal solution to various challenges.
Barakah Unit 1, which began a full year of commercial operation in April 2021, produced more than 10.5 terawatts of eco-friendly electricity. Commercial operation of Unit 2 also began in March 2022, less than a year after the first plant was in commercial operation.
As a result, the two sites have doubled Barakah’s productivity and benefit to the state, which will increase further as a third plant is expected to start operating this year.
The first plant received a pre-planned refueling and maintenance process. It’s a process that occurs every 12 months and involves shutting down the plant’s reactors, carrying out more than 8,000 pre-planned maintenance activities, and replacing about one-third of the fuel bales in the reactor core. The first plant runs at full capacity and operates commercially for another year, with no carbon emissions. The second plant continued commercial operations as normal during this period to provide environmentally friendly electricity.
The process of loading fuel assemblies into Unit 3 has begun following the announcement by the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) that its operations and maintenance subsidiary, Nawah Energy Company, has been granted an operating license by the UAE Federation, in compliance with all national regulations and the highest international standards of nuclear regulation Bureau (FANR).
With Unit 3 now licensed to operate alongside Units 1 and 2, this milestone represents substantial and rapid progress in developing nuclear energy as a strategic, clean and abundant source of electricity for the UAE, while changing the The country’s energy landscape and strengthening national energy security. With the fuel loading process complete, the operations team will continue to prepare for the start-up of the unit later this year, followed by the delivery of the first megawatts of clean and reliable power.
By 2030, the Barakah plant will contribute 25% of the UAE’s international emissions reduction commitments, making it an important part of the country’s strategy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
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