Unit 4 of UAE’s Barakah nuclear plant begins ops readiness prep

Unit 4 of UAE’s Barakah nuclear plant begins ops readiness prep

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) recently announced that Unit 4, the fourth and final unit at the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in Abu Dhabi, UAE, has begun its operational readiness preparations. The operations team at Barakah have now commenced the operational readiness testing required to demonstrate the unit is ready to receive the operating license from the UAE’s independent nuclear regulator, the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR). The news comes following commercial operations of earlier in 2023, which joined Units 1 and 2 in generating 30TWh annually. The lessons learned from the previous three units have been effectively applied to the next unit, ensuring a swift and safe transition to operational readiness. Once commercially operational, Unit 4 will raise the Barakah Plant’s total clean electricity generation capacity to 5.6GW, equivalent to 25 per cent of the UAE’s electricity needs, delivering more than 40TWh of clean electricity per year The Barakah Plant has already had a transformational impact on the UAE’s energy landscape, spearheading the rapid decarbonisation of the UAE’s power sector and over the winter months, the plant met up to 48 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s electricity requirements with zero-carbon electricity. Mohamed Ibrahim Al Hammadi, managing director,