Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) has announced that the construction of the concrete dome for the first nuclear reactor at the Baraka nuclear scheme in Abu Dhabi has been completed.

Enec announced on 13 January that the construction works have been completed on the dome, which is the final structural component of the reactor containment building (RCB). The RCB is now more than 70 metres high, and construction work is on schedule, according to the firm.

“We remain confident and committed to successfully delivering our mission of safe, clean, reliable and efficient nuclear energy to the UAE in 2017,” said Mohamed al-Hammadi, Enec’s CEO, in a statement on 13 January.

Al-Hammadi told MEED’s Abu Dhabi Energy, Industry & Infrastructure conference in December that construction work on the first unit was 61 per cent completed and that the first reactor was on schedule to meet the commissioning deadline of 2017.

Enec is planning for one reactor to come online every year from 2017, with the fourth and final reactor scheduled for commissioning in 2020. Al-Hammadi told the conference that the nuclear scheme would reduce 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2020.