Japan Joins UAE's Nuclear Cooperation Queue as South Korea Builds First Reactor

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--You could say that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is getting its nuclear power ducks in a row. The country already has signed nuclear cooperation agreements with the U.S., South Korea, France, Canada, Russia and Argentina. There is also a memorandum of understanding on nuclear cooperation with the U.K., and bilateral nuclear safeguard agreements with Australia and Canada.

Last week, it signed a cooperation agreement with Japan on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, which clears the way for the transfer of nuclear materials, technology and related items between the two countries. The UAE and Japan's ambassadors to the International Atomic Energy Agency signed the agreement with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe while on an official visit to Abu Dhabi, with UAE Vice President Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in attendance.

Work is already progressing on the construction of the UAE's first nuclear reactor at Barakah, where a South Korean consortium, led by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KSX:052690) (Kepco) (Yongin, South Korea), is planning to build four APR-1400 pressurized water reactors, under a $20 billion contract.

Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) approved license applications for units 1 and 2 in July 2012, after which construction work immediately began. ENEC will apply for an operating license for Unit 1 in 2015, and it is scheduled for completion in 2018. Unit 3 is scheduled to begin commercial operations in May 2019, with Unit 4 coming online 12 months later.

At the end of March, installation started on the first sections of the containment liner plate in the Unit 1 reactor building. Nineteen liner rings will be installed in the 2,000-ton structure. Work on this phase will continue for the next nine months.

Both South Korea and Japan are lacking in domestic sources of hydrocarbons and are developing a nuclear cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to secure long-term oil supplies. This is congruent with the GCC countries' desire to see that nuclear power allows them to export surplus oil and gas.

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