The oil-rich United Arab Emirates has connected its Barakah nuclear power plant to the national grid in a first for the Arab world. The milestone follows the successful start-up of the plant’s first reactor at the end of last month and launches the UAE on the road to meeting 25 percent of its electricity needs from nuclear power.
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The plant on the Gulf coast west of Abu Dhabi had been due to go online in late 2017 but faced a number of delays that officials attributed to safety and regulatory requirements.
The UAE has substantial oil and gas reserves, but with a power-hungry population of 10 million it has made huge investments in developing clean alternatives, including solar energy.
Barakah was built by a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation at a cost of some $24.4 billion.
More than 950 kilometres (nearly 600 miles) of 400 kV overhead power lines had to be built to link the plant to the grid.
Construction work has already been completed on Unit 2, and Units 3 and 4 are respectively 93 percent and 86 percent complete.
The UAE lies just across the Gulf from Iran which has a nuclear power plant of its own outside the coastal city of Bushehr, as well as a controversial uranium enrichment programme.
