Breakthrough for first UAE nuclear plant as third reactor connects to grid

The opening of the UAE’s first nuclear power plant this week moved another step closer.

Operators yesterday said the third nuclear reactor at the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in Al Dhafra had been connected to the country’s electricity grid.

The significant development allows for major tests of the reactor to take place over the next few months.

Unit three will also undergo “hot functional testing”, which assesses its cooling and safety systems before nuclear fuel is introduced to the system.

“I am proud of the continued progress being made at unit three,” said Mohamed Al Hammadi, chief executive of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, which operates the plant.

“We have maintained our track record of safety and efficiency with the successful energisation [the formal term for connection to the grid] of the unit’s transformers and we continue to establish Barakah as the benchmark for new nuclear construction projects worldwide.”

Once all four reactors of the plant are working, it will provide close to a quarter of electricity needs in the UAE.

But operators did not reveal an opening date for the plant. Construction of the $25 billion (Dh91bn) facility began in 2011, with electricity generation set for 2017.

It is now thought the reactors will not produce electricity until late this year or early next.

To generate power, the reactors must be loaded with uranium pellets that produce heat through a controlled nuclear reaction. The heat from the reaction is transferred to water that creates steam to drive the turbines.

The Barakah plant’s workforce is about 60 per cent Emirati, of which a quarter are women, a figure believed to be the highest for any nuclear power company in the world.