UAE picks site to build four reactors

• 13 years ago (2010-05-14)
• David Flin

Middle East 310 North America 998 Nuclear 640

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A remote beach at Braka in Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf, about 50 km from the centre of Abu Dhabi’s oil industry at Rawis, is the chosen site for four new nuclear reactors to be built by a South Korean consortium. The site is also just 160 km from the border with Saudi Arabia, which is expected to be a prime customer for electricity from the reactors. The sparsely populated region was selected because it presented few environmental challenges or impacts on nearby populations.

The site was chosen from a short-list of ten alternatives. The evaluation process considered security, seismic conditions, and adequate water supply for cooling. Some of the reactor capacity will be used for desalinisation, so the plant will use seawater, rather than fresh water, as a primary resource.

The UAE expects the first plant to be operational by 2017. Construction of roads, and a port jetty with cranes, will begin later this year to support delivery of components, materials and reactor components to the site. The UAE plans to connect the site to a regional transmission and distribution grid to supply electricity to other countries on its side of the Persian Gulf once the reactors are in revenue service.

In 2009, Abu Dhabi awarded a $20 billion contract to a consortium of South Korean companies, including KEPCO, which will supply four 1400 MW reactors. Doosan Heavy Industries will make the reactor pressure vessels, steam generators and pumps. Construction of the first reactor is due to begin in late 2012.