Units 3 and 4 at the United Arab Emirates' Barakah nuclear power plant are more than half complete, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) announced on 9 January.
Unit 3 is now more than 62% complete following installation of the reactor containment building liner dome, which put in place the roof of the structure where the reactor vessel was installed in July 2016. Work to pour the concrete and complete the building is progressing, 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 been completed and its final reactor containment liner plate rings have been set. Work has begun on construction of the turbine building, and interior and exterior concrete is now being poured for unit 4's reactor containment building.
According to Enec deputy CEO Ahmed Al Rumaithi, the company is aiming 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.
Construction of Barakah's four Korean-designed AP1400 reactors began in 2012. Overall construction of the plant is now around 75% complete. Unit 1 is scheduled to start up this year, with the others following at yearly intervals until the plant is completed in 2020. Barakah is expected to supply up to a quarter of the UAE's electricity and save up to 12m tonnes of carbon emissions a year, once the plant is fully operational.
