Going Nuclear: Searching For Solutions

The UAE will most likely build its first nuclear-powered plant here in less than a decade pending international approvals and the outcome of a federal study now under way, suggest experts.

Commissioned by Abu Dhabi officials, the study is looking at the feasibility of constructing an estimated $4 billion nuclear reactor of the latest design that is reportedly safer and greener for the environment.

The addition of thousands of megawatts to the national grid is needed as cities such as Dubai demand more power than the country’s traditional power plants can supply.

David Weaver, CEO of UK-based ESR Technology, said the move toward fission power reflects a worldwide trend toward nuclear plants compared to other generating stations that emit carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that nuclear power generation will double by 2030.

"Is nuclear power a possibility in the UAE? A lot of us believe that it is," said Weaver in an interview from Bahrain, where he chaired the Power and Finance Conference this week.

Weaver said that the proposed nuclear plant is relatively small in comparison to the overall scope of 114 different energy-producing projects valued at $160 billion in the Gulf region.

In 1997, Weaver worked with CMS Energy to build the first privately-built electricity plant, the Al Chewelah gas-fired power station in Abu Dhabi, which began generating 1,000 megawatts in its first phase in 2001. "I do know that nuclear is being taken very seriously," Weaver said.

The UAE Ministry of Energy has not indicated it is pursuing nuclear energy.

However, a visit this week to Abu Dhabi by France’s Defence Minister Herve Morin shored up energy experts’ predictions that UAE will go nuclear with help from the French atomic agency — France generates 78 per cent of its national energy from 59 nuclear plants.

According to WAM, Morin said in an interview that "special relations between the UAE and France resulted in promising projects… and the cooperation in developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, including power generation."

In July, WAM reported talks between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan focused on resurrecting a "1980 agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear technology in order to enable the UAE to produce electricity from nuclear energy".

A Sarkozy spokesman said the president announced "France’s preparedness to help the UAE launch a civilian nuclear programme to produce electricity".

According to a research project team calling itself ProLeads, the $4 billion nuclear project being studied for Abu Dhabi "calls for [the] design, supply, [and to] build and operate [a] nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi. Location and capacity have still to be decided."

The project is called "Abu Dhabi Nuclear Programme" and it is forecast by the research team to be a greenfield project.

The project is expected to be commissioned in December 2013.

It lists the project owner as Mubadala Development Company (MDC). The firm’s chief executive, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, couldn’t be reached for comment by XPRESS at the company’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

Nuclear News

• In 1960, nuclear power worldwide provided one per cent of all electricity; in 1986, nuclear power provided 16 per cent; in 2006, nuclear power provided 15 per cent.
• By the end of 2006, there were 435 reactors operating on the planet and 29 under construction.
• The United States has 103 operating units, France has 59, Japan has 55, plus one under construction, and Russia has 31 operating reactors, with a further seven under construction.
• Asia is leading the new trend for nuclear power with 15 of the 29 nuclear units now being built located in the Far East. India is building seven plants. SOURCE: IAEA