Barakah nuclear plant's Unit 1 reaches 100% power

The Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant's Unit 1 has successfully achieved 100 per cent of its power capacity.

This major milestone brings the facility one step closer to starting commercial operations, scheduled in early 2021.

One-hundred per cent power means that Unit 1 is generating 1400 MW of electricity from a single generator connected to the UAE grid, making it the largest single source of electricity in the country.

The achievement accelerates the decarbonisation of the UAE power sector, while also supporting the diversification of the nation’s energy portfolio as it transitions to cleaner electricity sources.

Nawah Energy Company is in charge of operating Unit 1 and has been responsible for safely and steadily raising the power levels since it commenced the start-up process in July, and connection to the grid in August.

Achieving 100 per cent power is one of the final steps of the Power Ascension Testing (PAT) phase of the start-up process for Unit 1.

Nawah’s highly skilled and certified nuclear operators will carry out a series of tests before the reactor is safely shut down in preparation for the Check Outage. During this period, the Unit 1 systems will be carefully examined, and any planned or corrective maintenance will be performed to maintain its safety, reliability and efficiency prior to the commencement of commercial operations.

The PAT process is overseen by the independent national regulator – the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), which has conducted 287 inspections since the start of Barakah’s development.

These independent reviews have been conducted alongside more than 40 assessments and peer reviews by the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, and World Association of Nuclear Operators, WANO.

#Barakah Unit 1 reaches 100% power as it steps closer to commercial operations, due to begin early 2021.#WamNews https://t.co/GYgw4f4835 pic.twitter.com/nnVJs9p9Dq

— WAM English (@WAMNEWS_ENG) December 7, 2020

Barakah One Company, which is the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation's (ENEC) subsidiary in charge of the financial and commercial activities of the Barakah project, signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) in 2016 to purchase all of the power generated at the plant for the next 60 years.

Electricity produced at Barakah feeds into the national grid in the same manner as other power plants, flowing to homes and businesses across the country.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, ENEC, and subsidiaries Nawah and Barakah One Company, along with companies that form Team Korea, have worked closely together, in line with all national and local health authority guidelines, to ensure the highest standards of health and safety are maintained for those working on the project.

The Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, located in Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi, is one of the largest nuclear energy new build projects in the world.

Construction of the plant began in 2012 and has progressed steadily ever since. Construction of Unit 3 (93%) and Unit 4 (87%) are in the final stages, benefitting from the experience and lessons learned during the construction of Units 1 and 2, while the construction of the Barakah Plant as a whole is now more than 95 per cent complete.

Once the four reactors are online, Barakah Plant will deliver clean, efficient and reliable electricity to the UAE grid for decades to come, providing around 25 per cent of the country’s electricity and preventing the release of up to 21 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually – the equivalent of removing 3.2 million cars off the roads each year.