Petroleum Rich UAE Taps Into Nuclear Energy

By Sheriffah Noor Khamseah Al-Idid Dato' Syed Ahmad Idid KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (Bernama) -- Energy Security and diversification of energy portfolio has taken centre-stage in the socio-economic agenda of nations worldwide. The consideration of alternative energies have resulted in investments in the diverse options available. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is among the countries that made a strategic decision to diversify its energy portfolio, despite having the world's seventh largest proved reserves of both oil and natural gas, an equivalent of 3.5 per cent of the world's natural gas reserves and 4 percent of the world's oil reserves. An Energy Study in 2006 had projected that the UAE's energy demand was expected to rise progressively from 15.5 GWe in 2008 to over 40 GWe in 2020, a growth rate of approximately 9 per cent per year, three times the global average. EMBARKING ON THE NUCLEAR OPTION The Nuclear option, outlined in its Nuclear Policy 2008 was selected by the UAE after carefully considering all other alternative energy sources. However, instead of other energy sources, what made UAE to choose nuclear? Most conventional power sources were found to be insufficient to fully meet power output, cost-efficiency, or environmental requirements; with natural gas supplies being insufficient, reliance on burning liquids expected to have high economic costs and poor environmental performance, traditional coal-fired plants negatively affecting the environment and the security of supply of the UAE’s electricity sector and renewable technologies able to meet only a small portion of the nation's future demand. Thus Nuclear energy had emerged as a proven, environmentally promising and commercially competitive energy source compared to other options for the UAE. It will also help preserve UAE's natural energy resources and help increase energy security margins with the introduction of clean energy for the benefit of future generations. THE NUCLEAR LAW A new law for the applications of peaceful nuclear energy in the UAE signed in October 2009 by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan establishes the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) as the governmental body responsible for the regulation and licensing of nuclear energy in the country. Accordingly, following the recommendation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UAE established a Nuclear Energy Program Implementation Organisation (NEPIO), which set up the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) as an Abu Dhabi public entity. ENEC was initially funded with $100 million, to evaluate and implement nuclear power plans within UAE. It also serves as owner and operator of the UAE's Nuclear Power Plant. LANDMARK NUCLEAR DEAL The UAE invited expressions of interest from nine companies for construction of its first nuclear power plant. In December 2009, ENEC announced the selection of a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) as the winning bidder for UAE's first batch of nuclear power plants. The reactors are manufactured by KEPCO with the value of the contract for the construction, commissioning and fuel loads for four units costing about US$20.4 billion. ENEC President Khaldoon Khalifa al-Mubarak had signed an agreement with Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) CEO Kim Ssang-soo, on the $20 billion deal on the nuclear power plants. The consortium also expects to earn another $20 billion by jointly operating the reactors for 60 years. TRAILBLAZING THE NUCLEAR NEW BUILD Construction of UAE's first nuclear power plant, Barakah Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), located 270km from Abu Dhabi, started in July 2012. UAE then was designated as the first new comer country to start nuclear power plant construction since the last one constructed by China in 1985. Sheriffah Noor Khamseah Al–Idid Syed Ahmad Idid, a Panelist at the Global Women in Nuclear (Global WIN) 2016 which was recently convened in Abu Dhabi, also had the opportunity to visit the BNPP. The BNPP, she said, comprised of four Generation III nuclear power reactors, the advanced pressurised nuclear power reactor APR-1400 (based on Westinghouse's System 80+ design), each with installed capacity of 1400MWe. Its first unit (BNPP-1) is scheduled to be commissioned this year 2017, with units 2,3 and 4 (BNPP-2, BNPP-3 and BNPP-4) expected to be commissioned in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively. All 4 units will be operational by 2020 with total installed capacity of 5600 MWe, "Against this backdrop of large installed capacity, the UAE has been hailed as one of the trailblazer in the current nuclear new build after China and Russia," Sheriffah Noor, a Women in Nuclear Global (WIN Global) member since 2009 explained. ENEC has set up an operating company, Nawah Energy Company, in May 2016 to operate and maintain the four Barakah units, with 82 per cent of th equity owned by ENEC and 18 per cent by KEPCO. Once all 4 reactors are in operation, the UAE's Nuclear Power plant is expected to produce 25 percent of the nation's electricity at a one third the cost of that from traditional oil fired plants and save up to 12 million tones of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions annually. ACCOLADES FOR ACHIEVING "GOLD STANDARD" The UAE's pursuit for the introduction and implementation of a peaceful use of nuclear energy, prevent nuclear terrorism and any risks or jeopardy to nuclear security is dovetailed in the US–UAE 123 Agreement for Peaceful Civilian Nuclear Energy cooperation that entered into force on 17 Dec 2009. As a result of this, the UAE received accolades for achieving the "Gold Standard" for its nuclear power programme (NPP), which has been promoted as a model for the rest of the world. HOST OF 4th MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON NUCLEAR POWER Serving as an important showcase for nuclear new build and having gained international recognition for the introduction and implementation of its nuclear power programme, the UAE will be hosting the 4th International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century, from 30 Oct to 1 Nov this year. The conference is organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in cooperation with Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). Previous Ministerial Conferences were held in Paris in 2005, in Beijing in 2009 and in Saint Petersburg in 2013. The objective of the conference is to enable the participants to engage in high-level dialogue on the role of nuclear power in meeting future energy demand, contributing to sustainable development and mitigating change, as well as to discuss and exchange views on the key issues related to the development and deployment of nuclear power. --BERNAMA