One year ago today, the UAE made history. It was on April 18, 2021, that commercial operations began at Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant.
Barakah Unit 1 opening marked a milestone for the UAE, as it become the Arab world's first country to run a nuclear programme.
The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation said in a statement on Monday that in the past year, energy produced by Unit 1 had prevented the release of more than five million tonnes of carbon emissions.
This is the quantity of emissions that would have been released if fossil fuels had instead been used to generate the power.
It is the equivalent to more than “one million cars driven for a year”, officials said
“Unit 1 of the Barakah Plant has generated more than 10.5 terawatt hours of clean electricity, powering homes and businesses across the UAE and enabling businesses to become more sustainable and access ESG [environmental, social and governance] funding through clean energy certification,” Enec said.
A terawatt is 1,000 gigawatts — or one million, million watts. A terawatt hour is a unit of energy equal to outputting one terawatt of energy for one hour.
“The Barakah plant is leading the largest decarbonisation effort in the Arab world and sustainably and securely powering the UAE on its path to net zero,” Enec said, referring the UAE's plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
The four units of the Barakah plant will produce enough electricity to cover 25 per cent of the country’s energy needs. It is now halfway towards this goal.
Unit 2 of the plant started commercial operations on March 24, 2022, less than a year after Unit 1.
Unit 3 construction was completed in 2021 and is undergoing operational readiness preparations, while Unit 4 is close to completion.
The development of the Barakah Plant as a whole is now more than 96 per cent complete.
“We are proud to be celebrating the first anniversary since the start of commercial operations of Unit 1 of the Barakah plant,” Enec chief executive Mohamed Al Hammadi said.
“The plant is a sustainable powerhouse for the nation, generating abundant emissions-free electricity 24/7. Barakah is a leading contributor to the UAE’s net-zero target and we are rapidly decarbonising the power sector.
“We have offered hundreds of jobs to Emiratis and international experts and will continue to inspire a generation of clean electricity champions and climate change leaders to join our programme in the years to come.”
Enec oversees the plant, while Nawah Energy Company is the operator.
The corporation on Monday also said scheduled maintenance will now take place on Unit 1, which involves shutting down the reactor and replacing around a third of the fuel assembles in the reactor core.
“During this time, over 1,000 additional nuclear specialists have joined the existing team at Barakah to undertake this process in line with the highest national regulations and international standards,” Enec said.
“On completion, the unit will be restarted and powered back up to full power to run for another 12 months. This planned refuel process will take place on each unit every 12 months.”
By 2025, the Barakah Plant is set to produce 85 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s clean electricity and will be the biggest contributor to reducing the UAE power sector’s carbon emissions.
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
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White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Global institutions: BlackRock and KKR
US-based BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with $5.98 trillion of assets under management as of the end of last year. The New York firm run by Larry Fink provides investment management services to institutional clients and retail investors including governments, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, banks and charitable foundations around the world, through a variety of investment vehicles.
KKR & Co, or Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, is a global private equity and investment firm with around $195 billion of assets as of the end of last year. The New York-based firm, founded by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, invests in multiple alternative asset classes through direct or fund-to-fund investments with a particular focus on infrastructure, technology, healthcare, real estate and energy.
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Bantamweight Hamza Bougamza (MAR) v Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
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2 To date, the only two players to win the PGA Championship after winning the week before are Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and Tiger Woods (2007, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational). Hideki Matsuyama or Chris Stroud could have made it three.
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4 Louis Oosthuizen has now finished second in all four of the game's major championships.
5 In the fifth hole of the final round, McIlroy holed his longest putt of the week - from 16ft 8in - for birdie.
6 For the sixth successive year, play was disrupted by bad weather with a delay of one hour and 43 minutes on Friday.
7 Seven under par (64) was the best round of the week, shot by Matsuyama and Francesco Molinari on Day 2.
8 Number of shots taken by Jason Day on the 18th hole in round three after a risky recovery shot backfired.
9 Jon Rahm's age in months the last time Phil Mickelson missed the cut in the US PGA, in 1995.
10 Jimmy Walker's opening round as defending champion was a 10-over-par 81.
11 The par-four 11th coincidentally ranked as the 11th hardest hole overall with a scoring average of 4.192.
12 Paul Casey was a combined 12 under par for his first round in this year's majors.
13 The average world ranking of the last 13 PGA winners before this week was 25. Kevin Kisner began the week ranked 25th.
14 The world ranking of Justin Thomas before his victory.
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16 The par-four 16th marks the start of Quail Hollow's so-called "Green Mile" of finishing holes, some of the toughest in golf.
17 The first round scoring average of the last 17 major champions was 67.2. Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen shot 67 on day one at Quail Hollow.
18 For the first time in 18 majors, the eventual winner was over par after round one (Thomas shot 73).
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Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
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- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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