Unit 2 of UAE’s Barakah nuclear plant to start operations within months: ENEC CEO

The second unit of the United Arab Emirates’ Barakah nuclear power plant is set to begin commercial operations in coming months, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation’s (ENEC) CEO said on Wednesday.

The third unit of the plant’s planned four reactors will start operations in late 2022, Mohammed al-Hammadi told a sustainable finance conference in Abu Dhabi.

Barakah’s Unit 1 was connected to the national power grid in August 2020, and Unit 2 in September 2021.

When completed Barakah will have four reactors with 5,600 megawatts (MW) of total capacity – equivalent to around 25 percent of the UAE’s peak demand.

Hammadi last week said ENEC was set to produce 85 percent of Abu Dhabi’s clean electricity by 2025.