Unit 3 transformers energised at Barakah

Work at nuclear plant 91% complete with reactor closer to being operated

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) on Tuesday announced another milestone in the construction of Unit 3 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, after successfully completing the safe energising of Unit 3’s main power transformers.

The testing was performed with the approval and support of Abu Dhabi Transmission and Despatch Company (Transco), and comes one year after the completion of similar work on Unit 2, and two years after the completion of the same work on Unit 1.

“I am proud of the continued progress being made at Unit 3 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant. We have maintained our track record of safety and efficiency with the successful energisation of the unit’s transformers, and we continue to establish Barakah as the benchmark for new

nuclear construction projects worldwide,” said Enec chief executive officer Mohammad Al Hammadi.

“This construction milestone was achieved as a result of our extensive collaboration with our prime contractor and joint venture partner, the Korea Electric Power Corporation [Kepco], as well as expert teams from Nawah Energy Company and Abu Dhabi Transmission & Despatch Company,” he added.

The commissioning teams will now begin preparing for the commencement of hot functional testing (HFT) at Unit 3, implementing the lessons learned during their testing of Units 1 and 2. HFT takes place over a number of weeks and consists of almost 200 individual and integrated tests performed on major systems to check their performance under normal operational conditions, without the presence of nuclear fuel assemblies in the reactor vessel.

Unit 2 is 95 per cent complete, Unit 3 is more than 91 per cent and Unit 4 is more than 82 per cent, while the overall construction completion percentage is more than 93 per cent. All four units will deliver clean, efficient and reliable electricity to the UAE.