The photo is sourced from Yonhap
The start-up operations at the fourth power unit is the final stage of NPP commissioning, the construction of which commenced in 2012. The commercial operation of the first reactor started in April 2021, of the second reactor – in March 2022, and of the third reactor – in February 2023. Each new reactor was commissioned ahead of schedule: according to ENEC, the launching period of the third reactor was four months shorter than such period for the second reactor, and five months shorter than for the first reactor. The total capacity of four reactors is 5.6 GW, and it will be enough to cover 25% of the UAE energy needs.
Stage-by-stage commissioning of Barakah NPP power units combined with the renewable energy development allowed UAE for decreasing its carbon footprint in energy generation. According to Ember research centre, the share of low-carbon energy sources in UAE generation mix grew from 0.02% in 2012 up to 17.5% in 2022. Simultaneously, the specific volume of emissions per 1 KWh of electricity decreased by 17% reaching 561 grams per 1 KWh, which is below the average metric of the Middle East countries (668 grams per 1 KWh), where hydrocarbons are mainly used for electric power generation. Such hydrocarbons include not only gas and fuel oil, but crude oil as well: e.g., in Saudi Arabia in 2022 the volume of fuel oil burnt at power plants reached 608 thousand bbl per day, while as the volume of burnt crude oil was 486 thousand bbl per day exceeding the total volume of oil refining in Kazakhstan (457 thousand bbl per day in 2022, according to Energy Institute).
UAE joined the community of nuclear power generating countries, which is an element of the common trend of NPPs geography expansion, to a great extent associated with the growing interest toward decreasing the emissions. Currently under construction are such NPPS as Rooppur, Akkuyu and El Dabaa will the first nuclear power plants in the history of Bangladesh, Turkey and Egypt respectively. The growth of the generating capacities will also be assured due to deregulation of this industry in India planning to attract private and foreign investors to building NPPs, and in Japan, where the commissioning of new reactors will compensate for decommissioning of the obsolete power units.
