Authored by Alex Kimani via OilPrice.com,

The United Arab Emirates is considering building a second nuclear power plant to meet surging electricity demand, a government official has told Reuters. 

Home to 10 million people, the UAE commissioned the first unit of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in 2020, becoming the first Arab country to build a nuclear power plant. 

The UAE completed the fourth unit of the power plant in 2023 with total construction costs approaching $25 billion. The  final reactor of the UAE’s only nuclear plant is set to start commercial operations in the current year.

“The government is looking at this option. No final decision has been made in terms of the tender process but I can tell you that the government is actively exploring this option,” Hamad Alkaabi, permanent representative of the United Arab Emirates to the IAEA, has told Reuters. 

According to Alkaabi, any new power plant would likely consist of two or four reactors.

Abu Dhabi is projecting there will be a substantial increase in electricity use over the next decade mainly driven by population growth and an expanding industrial sector.

The UAE awarded Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) a $20 billion contract in 2009 to design, build and operate Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant’s four reactors in Abu Dhabi towards the border with Saudi Arabia.

The UAE is a close security partner of the United States, having signed a nuclear energy cooperation agreement with Washington in 2009. The country buys the fuel it needs for its reactors from the international market to avoid enriching uranium which can be used to make nuclear bombs.The country has declared that its nuclear programme is peaceful and solely for energy purposes in a bid to lower its reliance on oil.

It’s interesting to note that the UAE sits right across the Gulf from Iran, which the US accuses of illegally enriching uranium in a bid to develop nuclear weapons. The UAE also shares a border with Saudi Arabia, which is in talks with the United States over ambitions to develop its own civil nuclear power industry.