The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation and its joint venture subsidiaries, Nawah Energy Company and Barakah One Company, have signed three agreements with Korean companies. Enec and Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) in October 2016 signed a joint venture agreement that made Kepco a minority shareholder in Nawah and BOC.

President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan today attended a ceremony to celebrate the completion of construction at the United Arab Emirates' first nuclear power reactor.

Nuclear electricity generation capacity in the Middle East is expected to increase from 3.6 gigawatts this year to 14.1 GWe by 2028 thanks to new construction start-ups and recent agreements between Middle Eastern countries and nuclear vendors, the US Energy Information Administration said yesterday. The United Arab Emirates will lead near-term growth by installing 5.4 GWe of nuclear capacity by 2020, it said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has launched the first regional training course in the Middle East on pressurised water reactors. In cooperation with the University of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, the course took place between 19 and 23 February and brought together more than 20 participants from eight IAEA Member States at the university's College of Engineering.

The switchyard for units 3 and 4 of the United Arab Emirates' Barakah nuclear power plant has been energised and connected to the electricity transmission grid, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation announced today. Key power transformers at Barakah 2 have also been energised in preparation for hot functional testing.

As nuclear vendors and operators have transformed into global players, so have nuclear regulators felt the impacts of globalisation, according to Christer Viktorsson, director general of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation in the United Arab Emirates. International collaborations and agreements between regulators can help to promote the highest global nuclear safety standards, he said.

The United Arab Emirates' nuclear energy programme is one of the world's most diverse, multinational and multicultural, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation vice chairwoman Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi said in a special presentation on the final day of the Abu Dhabi international ministerial conference on nuclear power.

Nuclear power remains an important option for many countries in meeting their energy and climate change goals, but investors need clarity and certainty from policy makers, according to Hamad Alkaabi, the UAE Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency. He was summing up the conclusions of the International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century, held this week in Abu Dhabi.

The United Arab Emirates is to share its experience in nuclear power infrastructure development through a cooperation agreement signed yesterday with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Under the agreement, the Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research in Abu Dhabi has been designated as an IAEA Collaborating Centre.

The rate of construction of new nuclear power plants will need to be accelerated if the world is to meet its future energy needs while meeting climate change goals, Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said today. Amano was speaking at the opening of the fourth International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century, being held in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.

As the UAE progresses steadily with its peaceful nuclear energy programme, the nation continues to work closely with international experts to ensure the highest levels of nuclear quality and safety. This international collaboration has been an essential part of the programme throughout, and is a key feature that all new nuclear energy projects around the world can learn and benefit from, writes Hamad Alkaabi.

The operator of the United Arab Emirates' first nuclear power plant - the first two units of which are due to start up next year - has shown a commitment to safety, an expert team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has concluded. However, the team identified areas where further improvements in operational safety may be achieved.