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UAE Still Studying Options For Nuclear Spent Fuel

UAE Still Studying Options For Nuclear Spent Fuel
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Τετ, 16 Οκτωβρίου 2013 - 18:45
The United Arab Emirates is still looking at options to manage its radioactive waste in the long term for its planned nuclear plants as what is OPEC's fourth-largest crude producer tries to cut its reliance on oil, the chief executive of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp., or ENEC, said Wednesday.
The United Arab Emirates is still looking at options to manage its radioactive waste in the long term for its planned nuclear plants as what is OPEC's fourth-largest crude producer tries to cut its reliance on oil, the chief executive of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp., or ENEC, said Wednesday.

ENEC will have its units built to have sufficient spent fuel storage capacity for the short term and will also construct independent spent fuel storage installations for the medium term of about 100 years and beyond, Mohamed Al Hammadi told the Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the World Energy Congress in South Korea.

But for the long term "we are still evaluating our options. We could either reprocess the spent fuel outside the country or do repositories inside or outside the U.A.E.," he said.

The U.A.E. is seeking to meet its growing energy consumption without diminishing its crude exports by generating 25% of its power from nuclear plants by 2020.

Last year, ENEC secured permission to construct two nuclear power units in the country--the first in a string of planned plants in the Persian Gulf region. It has also applied to the country's nuclear regulator for a license to build a third and fourth nuclear reactor in the western area of Abu Dhabi . Each reactor is capable of producing 1,400 megawatts of electricity with the first expected to be operational in 2017.

Several Gulf states , including top oil exporter and fellow member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Saudi Arabia, are looking at nuclear power after failing in recent years to develop enough gas production to meet their rising electricity demand. The latter is particularly pronounced in the summer when use of electric-powered air conditioning soars.

The U.A.E, which produces around 2.8 million barrels a day of crude, is one of the world's top five power consumers per capita. Currently, around 80% of the country's power is generated from burning natural gas, while the rest comes from oil, which the Gulf state wants to preserve for lucrative crude exports.

ENEC signed contracts worth $3 billion in August with six international companies, including Russia 's Tenex, Rio Tinto PLC ( RIO ) and France 's Areva SA (ARVCY), to supply nuclear fuel, conversion and enrichment services for its four South Korea-designed advanced pressurized water reactors.

"These contracts are for 15 years and they are with several supplies. If we don't get the supply from one place we can get it from another and we have the flexibility of the security of supply," Mr. Hammadi said.

The U.A.E. is investing billions of dollars in developing alternate sources of energy as part of plans to diversify its economy away from hydrocarbons. Its planned nuclear reactors are set to be the first in a string of civilian power plants in the Middle East , potentially including Egypt and Saudi Arabia . Unlike nearby Iran , the U.A.E. is committed to not enriching uranium itself nor reprocessing spent fuel.

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