The first of four nuclear reactors being built by the UAE will start operations in 2017 and the rest will be fully operational by 2020, a senior official has confirmed.
Mohammed Al Hammadi, CEO of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp (ENEC), was quoted by news agency WAM as saying: “When they become fully operational in 2020, they will generate 25% of UAE power needs.”
Al Hammadi was addressing the 10th Arab Energy Conference in Abu Dhabi taking place at Viceroy Hotel, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
He said that 61% of the first nuclear reactor has been completed and it is slated to start production in 2017.
Work is also underway on the second and third reactors while the site is being prepared for the fourth, he said.
The second reactor will come online in 2018, the third the following year and the last in 2020.
Al Hammadi said another five percent of UAE electricity needs will be provided by renewable energy sources by 2020, helping the Gulf state to cut 12mn tonnes of carbon emissions.
In 2009, an international consortium led by the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp won a $20.4bn deal to build four nuclear power plants in Baraka, west of Abu Dhabi.
