Licences granted for UAE site work

Monday, 12 July 2010 The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) has granted two licences for work related to the country's first nuclear power plant. The licences granted by the FANR to the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) are a site preparation licence, which will allow it to conduct "works related to the construction of features of the overall facility" at the Braka site, and a limited construction licence to manufacture and assemble nuclear safety related equipment, which will allow the manufacture of various components to begin. The limited construction licence should mean that South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries can now go ahead with the manufacture of long lead-time components such as the reactor pressure vessel, steam generators, pressurisers and coolant pumps, as agreed in a contract signed earlier this month. However, ENEC still requires a construction environmental permit before it can begin the civil work authorised under the site preparation licence. ENEC CEO Mohamed Al Hammadi described the licences as "important milestones" for the project.