South Korea-supplied APR1400 can operate for 60 years

The four-unit Barakah nuclear power station in the United Arab Emirates. Courtesy Enec.

The United Arab Emirates has issued an operating licence for the fourth and final unit at the Barakah nuclear power station – the first commercial nuclear facility in the Arab world.

The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) on Friday (17 November) announced the operating licence for Unit 4 had been granted to Nawah Energy Company, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation’s (Enec) subsidiary responsible for running the nuclear power station.

Nawah is licensed to operate Unit 4 for 60 years, FANR said in a statement.

Enec submitted a 14,000-page application in 2017 to operate Units 3 and 4. FANR said the licence was approved after a thorough assessment involving more than 170 inspections.

FANR carried out the assessment for Unit 4 following the issuance of the operating licence for Unit 3 in June last year. Operational readiness preparations began at Unit 4 in June 2023.

Barakah-4 is the fourth South Korea-supplied APR1400 at the Barakah station, on the Persian Gulf coast west of the city of Abu Dhabi.

Commercial operations began at Barakah-3 in February 2023. Barakah-1 began commercial operation in April 2021 and Barakah-2 in March 2022.

Once commercially operational, Unit 4 will raise Barakah’s total electricity generation capacity to 5.6 GW, equivalent to 25% of the UAE’s electricity needs, delivering more than 40 TWh of electricity per year.

The three commercially operating Units at Barakah are already generating more than 30 TWh of electricity, Enec said.