UAE’s ENEC Applies For Licence To Build More Nuclear Reactors

The United Arab Emirates’ Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp (ENEC) has applied to the Gulf Arab state’s nuclear regulator for a licence to build the oil-exporting country’s third and fourth nuclear reactors, the state news agency WAM reported on Friday.

In December 2009, the OPEC member country awarded a group led by Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) a contract to build four 1,400 megawatt nuclear reactors to meet surging demand for electricity.

The UAE’s Federal Authority of Nuclear Regulation (FANR) granted ENEC a licence for the construction of the first two reactors last July.

The first reactor is expected to start operating in 2017, and the others by 2020.

Pouring concrete for the first reactor at the Braka site, located on the west of UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi, began last July. The same process for the second reactor is expected to begin before the middle of this year, WAM reported.