South Korean supplied APR-1400 will be first reactor in Arab world Barakah-1 will be the first commercial nuclear plant in the Arab world. Courtesy Enec. The Barakah-1 nuclear power plant has reached 100% of its rated power, a milestone that brings the Arab world’s first nuclear unit one step closer to commercial operation, scheduled in early 2021.

Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) said 100% power means that Unit 1 is generating 1,400 MW of electricity from a single generator connected to the UAE grid. This makes the Unit 1 generator the largest single source of electricity in the UAE.

Achieving 100% power is one of the final steps of the power ascension testing phase of the startup process for Unit 1. Plant operator Nawah Energy, an Enec subsidiary, will now 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 examined and any planned or corrective maintenance carried out.

The Barakah nuclear station, in the Al Dhafra region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, is one of the largest nuclear energy new-build projects in the world, with four APR-1400 units supplied by South Korea. Construction began in 2012.

In July Enec announced the construction completion of Unit 2. Enec said construction of Units 3 and 4 are 93% and 87% complete respectively and construction of the station as a whole is now more than 95% complete.

Once the four reactors are online, Barakah will providing around 25% of the country’s electricity.