Unit 1 of the United Arab Emirate’s Barakah plant — the Arab world’s first nuclear energy plant — has connected to the national power grid, in a historic moment enabling it to provide cleaner electricity to millions of residents and help reduce the oil-rich country’s reliance on fossil fuels. “This is a major milestone, we’ve been planning for this for the last 12 years now,” Mohamed Al Hammadi, CEO of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), told CNBC’s Dan Murphy in an exclusive interview ahead of the news.
Unit 1 is the first of what will eventually be four reactors, which when fully operational are expected to provide 25% of the U.A.E.’s electricity, according to ENEC.
The Gulf country of nearly 10 million is the newest member of now 31 countries running nuclear power operations. It’s also the first new country to launch a nuclear power plant in three decades, the last being China in 1990.
