UAE nuclear plant ‘risks Middle East arms race’
Scientist says Gulf reactors lack key safety features, threaten environment and could be a terrorist target
FOUR nuclear reactors being built in the United Arab Emirates could spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and leave the Persian Gulf at risk of a Chernobyl-style disaster, a leading scientist has claimed. Dr Paul Dorfman, the chairman of the Nuclear Consulting Group, warned the UAE’S Barakah plant lacks key safety features, poses a threat to the environment, is a potential terrorist target and could be part of plans to develop nuclear weapons.
“The motivation for building this may lie hidden in plain sight,” Dr Dorfman told The Daily Telegraph. “They are seriously considering nuclear proliferation.”
Dr Dorfman, an honorary senior research associate at University College London’s Energy Institute, has served as a nuclear adviser to the British government and led the European Environment Agency response to the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.
However, the UAE stressed that it was committed to “the highest standards of nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation”.
The UAE hired the South Korean Korea Electric Power Corporation to build the Barakah – “Divine Blessing” in Arabic – plant in 2009. It will be the first nuclear power plant in the Arabian peninsula, and has fuelled speculation that Abu Dhabi is preparing for a nuclear arms race with Iran.
The UAE denied allegations by the Qatari government that its power plant was a security threat to Doha, their capital, and the Qatari environment.
However, Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed they hit the Barakah nuclear power plant with a missile in 2017.
The UAE denied the rebels fired any such missile, adding that they had an air defence system to deal with such threats. Dr Dorfman said that scrambling fighter aircraft or firing surface to air missiles in time to intercept an incoming strike would be difficult.
In September, Saudi air defences failed to stop a drone attack on oil processing facilities. Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for that attack, though Saudi Arabia blamed Iran.
The increase in transportation of radioactive materials through the Persian Gulf when the plant goes into operation could raise the risk of potentially fatal collisions, explosions, or equipment and material failure. Any radioactive discharge could reach population centres on the Gulf coast and have a potentially devastating impact on delicate Gulf ecosystems.
The plant is also vulnerable to climate change and extreme temperatures that could affect its cooling system, Dr Dorfman’s report says.
The International Panel on Climate Change has said extreme sea level events are likely to happen more frequently, meaning coastal power plants such as Barakah could become defenceless against rising sea levels, tidal ingress and storm surges. High average seawater temperatures could make it more difficult to cool the reactor.
The UAE foreign ministry had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.