Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) plans to develop the Emirate's first nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi to meet the national power requirement by 2020.
– Edited By Abby Gessner –
The nuclear power plant will be located at Al Bayyaa, next to the frontier with Saudi Arabia.
The plant will be built in three phases and will have a capacity of 5000 MW upon completion. Each phase will consist of 1,650MW. The first phase's planned completion date is in 2017, followed by the second and third phases in 2018 and 2019.
The original plan consisted of the construction of two 1600 MW nuclear Evolutionary Power Reactors (EPR) by 2016 but the project was reconsidered and changed.
The nuclear plant is part of the UAE's plan to develop alternative energy sources. ENEC is responsible for the Nuclear Energy Program Implementation Organization (NEPIO) in the UAE.
The government's forecasts showed that natural gas supplies, the principal fuel for power generation in the UAE, will not be sufficient to meet the future demand, thus the move to nuclear energy.
Thorium Power and CH2M Hill are the advisers for the implementation of the UAE's nuclear program.
In mid May 2009, three groups were shortlisted for the pre-qualification for BOT contract. The contract award is expected in August 2009. Construction of the first phase is expected to start in 2012. Phase 1 is expected to be completed in 2017, phase 2 in 2018 and phase 3 in 2019.
End of April 2009 was the deadline for the submission of the pre-qualification documents for the BOT contract.
In February 2009, ENEC issued the ITB for the prequalification documents for the BOT contract of the nuclear power plant.
In October 2008, Thorium Power and CH2M Hill were awarded the advisory contract for the implementation of the UAE's nuclear programme.
In June 2008, the ITB for the PMC contract was issued. Nine companies were pre-qualified.
In April 2008, the UAE Government unveiled its formal policy for nuclear energy after consultations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the governments of France, the United States, the UK, Russia, China, Japan, Germany and South Korea.
In January 2008, Total, Suez and Areva submitted a proposal to build two 1600 MW Evolutionary Power Reactors (EPR) to the UAE authorities. However no agreement was reached. According to Areva and Suez's plan, the two plants were planned to be based on Areva's third-generation system. Suez was planned to supply reactors.