The contract has been awarded and the celebrations have passed. Now comes the hard part: designing the reactors to suit local factors and obtaining the licences necessary to build them from industry regulators unlikely to disregard even the smallest details. Chris Stanton reports
Though the company was the centre of world attention last week, the inside of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) almost felt abandoned. Staff walked past row after row of empty desks in a building that is still very much under construction.
Within the next two weeks, those seats will be successively filled with the arrival of scores, then hundreds, of South Korean engineers and nuclear experts, who will kick-start the laborious process of constructing the UAE's first nuclear power plant. ENEC's award of a US$20 billion (Dh73.46bn) contract to a Korean consortium to build and start four reactors by 2020 has set off one of the largest construction projects in the nation's history.
The spotlight now shifts to the Government safety regulators who will oversee the project and determine whether it gets a green light.
ENEC and its partners will not pour a single batch of concrete or place one steel beam for the new power plant for at least two years. Instead, they will modify the reactor's design to meet local climate and geological conditions and submit their blueprints for review by the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), which holds the power to grant a construction licence.
FANR, charged with overseeing everything from the safety of the plant to the handling of nuclear fuel to the use of radiation in medical equipment, has sweeping powers as an independent body to order design changes or to reject ENEC's application entirely.
FANR, which is conscious of the Abu Dhabi Government's timetable for getting the first plant operational by 2017, can take as long as it needs to complete the review, which will cover a version of the Korean design modified for use at whatever site is ultimately chosen by ENEC, said Dr William Travers, the authority's director general.
"We're trying to position ourselves so we're ready and we wouldn't be a handicap in an efficient and timely review of a well-prepared proposal," Dr Travers said. "But the bottom line for us, and the reason we're established and the way we're established as an independent federal regulator, is that safety, security and safeguards have to be job one.
"Our review will take the time that it takes to reach a conclusion."
While ENEC and its partners will probably be allowed to build roads and some buildings on site before obtaining the construction licence, Dr Travers said all "safety-related" construction will have to wait. The process is "very likely to take more than a year", he said.
ENEC's chief executive, Mohamed al Hammadi, said last week the team hoped to begin pouring the concrete foundation for the plant, considered the first safety-related work, by 2012.
The concrete "will be put on the site under the regulators' supervision and approval", Mr al Hammadi said. "The licensing is a very detailed process."
The application for the licence is expected to be filed later this year, said Padraic Riley, the ENEC director of external affairs and communications.
Before FANR can judge any of ENEC's work, it will need to lay down its own standards on nuclear safety and security, ranging from regulations on radiation exposure to the siting of nuclear power plants, Dr Travers said. The draft regulations will be made available on the authority's internet site in the next few months for comments from the public, he said. They will then be reviewed by FANR's board for approval.
Recent history has shown that the success of a nuclear power plant project relies heavily on proper planning and a good relationship between the builder and regulator.
In Finland, the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant is running more than three years late and is nearly 100 per cent over budget. The Finnish regulator STUK has blamed Areva, the prime contractor, for the delays, saying it failed to adequately plan for the project and is ultimately responsible for a cracked concrete foundation poured by subcontractors.
In turn, Areva has criticised STUK, saying it created unnecessary regulatory hurdles to the construction process. The two sides have taken their claims to arbitration.
In South Korea, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corporation, applied in 2003 for a construction permit for two reactors at Shin Kori using the APR 1400 design, the same one selected for Abu Dhabi. The permits were not granted until April 2008 because of bureaucratic and political delays and the reactors are not expected to be completed until 2013 or 2014, a delay of three or four years from their original start date.
Licensing for two previous reactors of different design at Shin Kori took more than two years, leading to complaints from the Korean nuclear industry that politicians were hindering the process. The reactors are nearly completed after receiving licences in January 2005, with the first expected to begin operation in December.
Dr Travers, formerly the executive director for operations at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), is hoping to head off any such trouble by working closely with the Korean regulators that licensed the two APR 1400s for Shin Kori.
Though the APR 1400 design will require some modifications for the warmer waters of the Gulf and to protect the plant against sand and dust storms, the process will be broadly similar to Korea's, Dr Travers indicated.
"We hope to take advantage of what the Korean regulatory authority can provide us," he said. "The APR 1400 is based upon US technology, specifically the Combustion Engineering 80+ system, and you know a number of us have some familiarity with that particular pressurised water reactor design."
Regulation has proved to be crucial in slowing reactor construction around the world and driving up costs, said Stephen Thomas, a professor of energy studies at the University of Greenwich and a frequent critic of nuclear industry cost estimates.
"In some respects, only having it under construction and review in Korea is an advantage," he said. "If the US or European regulators were looking at it, they would take at least five years and throw up all sorts of issues that could change the cost."
The pressurised water reactor is the most common type of nuclear plant. Under that model, water is heated by passing it through the radioactive core and prevented from boiling through immense pressure. The high-pressure water, run in a closed loop, warms a second cycle of water into steam through a conductive wall called a heat exchanger.
The resulting steam, which does not contain radiation, is then used to turn a conventional turbine to generate electricity.
The pressurised water reactor designs on the market, while similar in concept, include important differences in nearly all of the internal equipment. The arrangement of uranium fuel, the type of steel vessel that surrounds the core and the set-up of a control room used to regulate the process all vary.
It is FANR's job to know everything about those components and to conduct frequent inspections to ensure that every weld and piece of the plant, however small, is completed to specification.
Once construction is complete, ENEC will apply for another licence which will allow it to begin operating the plant.
"Firstly, [ENEC] has to be convinced that the site and the design work together," Dr Travers said. "Ultimately, it's our job to make a similar and independent conclusion of the same thing and if we can't reach that, they're going to hear about it from us rather quickly."
@Email:cstanton@thenational.ae
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Results
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m; Winner: AF Al Baher, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
2.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,600m; Winner: Talento Puma, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
3pm: Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,950m; Winner: Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
3.30pm: Jebel Ali Stakes Listed (TB) Dh500,000 1,950m; Winner: Mark Of Approval, Patrick Cosgrave, Mahmood Hussain.
4pm: Conditions (TB) Dh125,000 1,400m; Winner: Dead-heat Raakez, Jim Crowley, Nicholas Bachalard/Attribution, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.30pm: Jebel Ali Sprint (TB) Dh500,000 1,000m; Winner: AlKaraama, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,200m; Winner: Wafy, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
5.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,400m; Winner: Cachao, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Armies of Sand
By Kenneth Pollack (Oxford University Press)
Essentials
The flights
Return flights from Dubai to Windhoek, with a combination of Emirates and Air Namibia, cost from US$790 (Dh2,902) via Johannesburg.
The trip
A 10-day self-drive in Namibia staying at a combination of the safari camps mentioned – Okonjima AfriCat, Little Kulala, Desert Rhino/Damaraland, Ongava – costs from $7,000 (Dh25,711) per person, including car hire (Toyota 4x4 or similar), but excluding international flights, with The Luxury Safari Company.
When to go
The cooler winter months, from June to September, are best, especially for game viewing.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
MIDWAY
Produced: Lionsgate Films, Shanghai Ryui Entertainment, Street Light Entertainment
Directed: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Darren Criss
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Stuck in a job without a pay rise? Here's what to do
Chris Greaves, the managing director of Hays Gulf Region, says those without a pay rise for an extended period must start asking questions – both of themselves and their employer.
“First, are they happy with that or do they want more?” he says. “Job-seeking is a time-consuming, frustrating and long-winded affair so are they prepared to put themselves through that rigmarole? Before they consider that, they must ask their employer what is happening.”
Most employees bring up pay rise queries at their annual performance appraisal and find out what the company has in store for them from a career perspective.
Those with no formal appraisal system, Mr Greaves says, should ask HR or their line manager for an assessment.
“You want to find out how they value your contribution and where your job could go,” he says. “You’ve got to be brave enough to ask some questions and if you don’t like the answers then you have to develop a strategy or change jobs if you are prepared to go through the job-seeking process.”
For those that do reach the salary negotiation with their current employer, Mr Greaves says there is no point in asking for less than 5 per cent.
“However, this can only really have any chance of success if you can identify where you add value to the business (preferably you can put a monetary value on it), or you can point to a sustained contribution above the call of duty or to other achievements you think your employer will value.”
