Construction milestones for Barakah 3 and 4

Construction of the third and fourth units at the United Arab Emirates' Barakah project has passed the half way point, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation has announced. Overall construction of the four-unit nuclear power plant is now around 75% complete.

Construction of the third and fourth units at the United Arab Emirates' Barakah project has passed the half way point, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) has announced. Overall construction of the four-unit nuclear power plant is now around 75% complete.

Construction progress at Barakah units 3 (on the right) and 4 (left) (Image:Enec)

Recent construction milestones include the setting in place of unit 3's reactor containment building liner dome, effectively installing the roof of the structure where the reactor vessel was installed in July 2016. This means unit 3 is now more than 62% complete. Work to pour the concrete and complete the building is progressing steadily, and the building is expected to be completed on schedule in the first quarter of 2017, Enec said.

Unit 4's turbine generator deck has now been completed and its final reactor containment liner plate rings have been set. Work has now begun on construction of the turbine building, and interior and exterior concrete for unit 4's reactor containment building is now being poured.

Enec deputy CEO Ahmed Al Rumaithi said the company expected to be ready for the installation of unit 4's reactor pressure vessel in mid-2017. "The construction of Unit 4 is now 35% complete and is ahead of schedule, with the completion of the deck and rings having occurred roughly ten months after similar work was concluded on Unit 3," he said.

"These milestones are a result of Enec's extensive collaboration with its prime contractor and joint venture partner, the Korean Electric Power Corporation," Enec CEO Mohamed Al Hammadi said.

Construction of Barakah's four Korean-designed APR1400 reactors began in 2012. The first unit is scheduled to start up this year, with the other units following at yearly intervals until the plant is completed in 2020. With all four reactors online, Barakah is expected to deliver up to a quarter of the UAE's electricity needs and save up to 12 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News