Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) has submitted operating licence applications (OLAs) for units 1 and 2 of the Baraka nuclear project to the UAE’s Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR).

Enec and South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), the lead contractor for the $20bn nuclear power plant, spent five years preparing documents on the safety of the planned operations and maintenance of the plant and its adherence to standards.

“This is a very important stage in the development of the UAE peaceful nuclear energy programme,” says Mohamed al-Hammadi, Enec’s CEO. “The successful and on-time submission of this OLA is a crucial milestone in our journey to becoming fully operational in 2017, and delivering on our mission to connect safe, clean and reliable nuclear energy to fuel the country’s continued growth.”

Preparations began following the receipt of a construction licence application (CLA) from FANR for units 1 and 2 in 2010.

The OLA includes:

• a final safety analysis report,
• an independent safety verification and design review,
• details of the organisation’s physical protection plan,
• a facility safeguards plan,
• operational quality assurance manual,
• an emergency plan,
• a probabilistic risk assessment summary report
• a severe accident analysis report.

It also includes a more stringent safety assessment report, which analyses the enhanced safety features added following the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.

ENEC also applied to FANR for two separate licences related to the import, receipt and possession of radioactive and nuclear materials earlier this year.

FANR will evaluate the applications and should issue a license for unit 1 in 2016, and unit 2 in 2017.

Unit 1 is now more than 69 per cent complete and is scheduled for completion in 2017. Additional units will follow at 12-month intervals, with the fourth unit set to commence commercial operations in 2020.

Upon completion, the four units will boast a combined capacity of 5,600MW and will meet 25 per cent of the UAE’s electricity demand. The plant will operate for 60 years.