The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) announced on Sunday that it approved the licensing for transporting and storing nuclear fuel at the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant.
The two licenses have been granted to the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and Nawah Energy Company respectively, with the former getting the license to transport the nuclear fuel, and the latter getting the license to store the nuclear fuel at the Barakah site.
“This is a major decision that our board of management has made, will allow the operators [of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant), ENEC and Nawah to get nuclear fuel into the country, and more particularly to the Barakah site. This is a major milestone for us, we have worked diligently for many months until we were convinced that everything was ready to start the transportation and storage of nuclear fuel,” said Christer Viktorsson, Director General of FANR.
Ian Grant, Deputy Director General for Operations at FANR, explained that the nuclear fuel would be shipped in transport casks from South Korea to the UAE, and then loaded onto trucks to transport the fuel to the nuclear reactor site.
“The FANR Board of Management approved the issuance of the licenses … after FANR’s staff carried out thorough assessments and inspections to ensure that the applicants met FANR’s stringent safety, security and safeguards requirements,” he added.
FANR issued ENEC with a site selection license in February 2010, and a construction license for Units 1 and 2, and for Units 3 and 4 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in July 2012 and September 2014 respectively. Since 2010 FANR has conducted over 120 inspections on both the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant including vendors (i.e. suppliers and manufacturers of equipment for the nuclear power plant) to ensure that the licensee complies with FANR’s regulations and any conditions set out in the license requirements.
Note:
The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation: In September 2009 FANR was established to be the regulatory body for the nuclear sector in the UAE in accordance with Federal Law by Decree No 6 of 2009, Concerning the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, which was issued by the UAE President H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
FANR protects the UAE’s public, its workers and the environment by conducting nuclear regulatory program in safety, security, radiation protection and safeguards, which fulfill key objectives in licensing and inspection in accordance with best international practices. FANR also oversees the implementation of the UAE’s obligations under the international treaties, conventions and agreements in the nuclear sector, and determines administrative standards, which support excellence in regulation.
