The Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Chief of Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced on August 1 that the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 in Abu Dhabi has been launched and will be commercialized later in 2020 Operations. This marks the UAE has become the first Arab country to use nuclear energy to generate electricity. After all units are put into operation, they can meet a quarter of the electricity needs of the UAE.

Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum wrote on Twitter: “Today, we publicly announced that the UAE has launched the first peaceful nuclear reactor in the Arab world at the'Baraka' station in Abu Dhabi. Experts have loaded Nuclear fuel has been fully tested and successfully completed the start-up."

He pointed out that the UAE will “operate four nuclear power plants in a safe, reliable and environmentally friendly manner, which will meet a quarter of the domestic electricity demand.” He said that the UAE’s nuclear power plants and space exploration “send a message to the world that Arabs are capable Re-lay its own scientific path and compete with other powers."

The Barak nuclear power plant will consist of four units with a total capacity of 5.6 megawatts.

Earlier, Christ Viktorson, Director-General of the UAE Federal Nuclear Regulatory Authority, stated that the first "Baraka" nuclear power plant in the Arab world may be launched in early 2020 after the agency issues an operating license and loads nuclear fuel.

The UAE’s first nuclear power plant with four reactors is being built in the western part of the country, on the coast of the Persian Gulf in the western part of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, 250 kilometers from the country’s capital. The construction of this US$25 billion power station started in 2011 and was expected to start generating electricity in 2017.Editor/Huang Lijun