– Edited By Chris Reed –
The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) announced the filing of the roughly 9,000 page regulatory construction license application on Monday. It awarded a contract worth $20 Billion to a Korean consortium led by Korea Electric Power Corporation a year ago.
ENEC plans to build the Gulf Arab state's first reactors at Braka on the Persian Gulf coast near the border with Saudi Arabia. It aims to have the first reactor running in 2017.
The application to the UAE's Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation is based largely on previous work done for reactors in South Korea that will serve as a reference for the Emirati plants. ENEC says that should ensure that its plants are "essentially the same" as the Korean reactors, which have been granted licenses by regulators in that country.
"We believe this license application demonstrates that the technology for our proposed power plant is safe, that the plant can be built to the highest possible standards, and that the proposed site is appropriate for the power plant," ENEC Chief Executive Mohammed al-Hammadi said in a statement.