UAE Nuclear Power Plant License in 2020

The operating license for the United Arab Emirates’ Barakah nuclear power plant could be issued in the first quarter of 2020, followed by the start-up of the first reactor, a senior official at the industry regulator said on Wednesday.

The $24.4 billion Barakah power plant is the world’s largest nuclear project under construction and will be the first in the Arab world, Reuters reported.

The plant, with four reactors, has total capacity of 5,600 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

“If nothing new happens, it could be in the first quarter of next year, we are working towards that,” Christer Viktorsson, director-general of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry event in Abu Dhabi.

Barakah is being built by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), but problems with training enough local staff have delayed the startup of its first reactor several times.