UAE’s Barakah-4 unit reaches start-up

March 6, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News
Unit 4 at the Barakah nuclear power plant. (Photo: Nawah)

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation announced last week start-up at its fourth nuclear unit at the Barakah plant in the UAE.

The plant is run by ENEC’s operating and maintenance subsidiary Nawah Energy Company. In the coming weeks, Unit 4 will be linked to the national electricity grid and undergo testing as power production is gradually increased to full capacity.

“The start-up of the fourth unit of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant is a significant achievement as we now enter into a new era to deliver the full promise of [the plant],” Mohamed Al Hammadi, managing director and CEO of ENEC, said in a news release. “In the past five years, the UAE has added more clean electricity per capita than any other nation globally, with 75 percent coming solely from the Barakah plant, demonstrating how pivotal nuclear energy is in decarbonizing the country’s power sector.”

Stats: Once testing is complete and commercial operations begin, Barakah-4 will reach a plant capacity of 5,600 MWe—meeting 25 percent of the UAE’s electricity demand. This is the fourth and final of the Korean-designed APR-1400 units to be built at the Barakah plant.

The plant’s new electricity output will cover 25 percent of the UAE’s carbon reduction commitments, known as the Nationally Determined Contribution under the United Nations Paris Agreement to meet global climate change goals.

Barakah’s three other commercially operating units, delivered into service in three consecutive years, generate more than 30 terawatt-hours of carbon-free electricity. ENEC said each previous unit started up more efficiently than the one before, with Unit 3 delivered four months faster than Unit 2 and five months faster than Unit 1.

In celebrating the success of bringing Barakah’s units on line, Al Hammadi said, “We continue to inspire a new generation of climate change champions.”

Commitments: ENEC, along with the World Nuclear Association, recently launched Net Zero Nuclear—a platform advocating for the important role of nuclear energy in achieving net zero emissions.

At COP28 held last year in the United Arab Emirates, leaders from more than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear energy capacity by 2050 to accelerate decarbonization efforts worldwide.


Related Articles

IAEA promoting nuclear energy with G20

April 24, 2024, 7:01AMNuclear News

The International Atomic Energy Agency launched a collaboration with the Group of 20 this week to highlight the key role that nuclear energy can play in achieving energy security and...

Barakah-4 is connected to the UAE grid

March 26, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News

The fourth nuclear unit at Barakah power plant in the United Arab Emirates has been “safely and successfully” connected to the nation’s grid, according to an announcement by the Emirates...

Reflections from COP28

January 31, 2024, 7:00AMANS News

The American Nuclear Society is hosting "Reflections from COP28," an online panel discussion this Friday, February 2, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. (ET). The talk will look back at the event...

Turning the tide

January 26, 2024, 9:31AMNuclear NewsPatrick O’Brien

The adage “a rising tide raises all boats” keeps coming to my mind whenever I think about the work ahead for small modular reactor and advanced reactor development companies. The...

2023 in Review: October–December

January 16, 2024, 3:01PMNuclear News

Another calendar year has passed. Before heading too far into 2024, let’s look back at what happened in 2023 in the nuclear community. In today's post, compiled from Nuclear News and Nuclear...