First domestic steel for Barakah
16 September 2013
The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) has taken delivery of the first consignment of domestically produced nuclear-quality reinforcing steel for the Barakah nuclear power plant project.
The first order of 45,000 tonnes of rebar supplied to Enec by Emirates Steel Industries includes 5000 tonnes of nuclear quality product. Emirates Steel is the only steel maker in the Middle East and North Africa region qualified to produce so-called Q-class nuclear quality reinforcing steel, and claims to be only the fourth company in the world qualified by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to produce rebar to nuclear qualified standards.
Nuclear grade steel is the highest quality class of steel required for nuclear safety-related construction. It took Emirates Steel two years to implement the quality system to enable it to manufacture and supply nuclear quality products to the UAE program, the company's CEO Saeed Ghumran al Romaithi explained. "This system was only developed to supply products to nuclear products and can only be activated for nuclear orders," he said.
Emirates Steel is the only integrated steel producer in the UAE. The company's nuclear qualification was supported by collaboration through an Enec-led program to help UAE companies to upgrade their quality and technical standards to enable them to tender for contracts in the UAE nuclear program. "Emirates Steel has made a significant effort to match their quality infrastructure with the highest standards and we are pleased to be working with them," CEO Mohamed Al Hammadi said, noting that every supplier to the project is subject to an extensive evaluation and assessment. More than 200 UAE companies now supply products and services to the program under contracts worth over $1 billion.
The reinforcing steel has been tested by US-based ERICO International Corporation to confirm that it is manufactured in accordance with ASME standards.
A consortium led by South Korea's Kepco is building two reactors at Barakah in the United Arab Emirates, with two further units planned for the site. Q-class reinforcing steel for the project has previously been sourced from South Korea.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News