UK firm signed up to help nuclear projects

ABU DHABI // The Federal Agency for Nuclear Regulation (Fanr) has signed with a British company to increase safety at the capital’s nuclear power plants.

Lloyd’s Register Energy, along with Lightbridge Corporation, will provide support to Fanr’s inspection team to oversee the construction of the plants until 2017.

“In the nuclear field, quality and assurance starts from the beginning of the project,” said Prof Mamdouh El Shanawany, Lloyd’s Register Energy’s nuclear vice president. “The foundation of nuclear safety is the quality of the material, design, manufacturing and construction. In addition to that, the quality of the operators, and this is a standard within engineering best practice, so this is the right approach.”

The work will involve helping the agency with its planning and preparation for the commissioning of plants by 2017. “The contract supports their activities to ensure that the quality of construction and the quality of performance of the subcontractors is exactly as expected by Fanr,” said Prof El Shanawany. “One of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) requirements is that you engage ‘technical support organisations’ to provide independent assessment and we’re very impressed by the way the UAE has adopted and applied international best practice to its nuclear programme.”

Inspectors will help oversee design verification, inspection plans, quality assurance and in-depth inspection during construction starting within a couple of weeks. “It is the perfect time to start with this process,” he said. “Part of the examination involves the material used to make sure that everything is in accordance with international practices and Fanr requirements.”

Meeting IAEA safety standards requires specialist engineering skills. “Governments do not typically have those specialist engineering skills, so they need outside consultancy in order to ensure compliance with the standards,” said Paul Wilke, a senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute of International Relations in The Netherlands.

Elena Sokova, the Vienna Centre for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation executive director, said nuclear safety was a key element of any nuclear energy programme. “It is even more the case for countries that are new to the nuclear energy development,” she said. “The 2011 Fukushima accident highlighted the importance of safety arrangements and put additional demands on all nuclear energy users, experienced and new.”

cmalek@thenational.ae