The cold hydrostatic test for Unit 4 at UAE's first nuclear power plant has been completed. Courtesy: Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation
The cold hydrostatic test for Unit 4 at UAE's first nuclear power plant has been completed. Courtesy: Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation
The cold hydrostatic test for Unit 4 at UAE's first nuclear power plant has been completed. Courtesy: Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation
The cold hydrostatic test for Unit 4 at UAE's first nuclear power plant has been completed. Courtesy: Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation

Barakah power plant passes major testing phase for its final unit


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The UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant is a step closer to being switched on after major tests were completed at all four of its units.

The energy plant, which will power 25 per cent of the nation’s homes and business, passed the cold hydrostatic test for its Unit 4, it was revealed on Tuesday.

Located 50km southwest of Ruwais in Al Dhafra region, the overall construction of the facility’s four units are 94 per cent complete.

“I am proud of the continued progress being made at Barakah despite the circumstances we have all faced in relation to Covid-19,” said Mohamed Al Hammadi, the chief executive of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation.

“The UAE leadership’s decisive and proactive response to the pandemic supported us in taking timely, safety-led actions to protect the health and safety of our workforce and our plant.”

The cold hydrostatic test measured the reactor’s ability to maintain its internal temperature at a safe level during operations.

Components of the coolant system were tested, including the coolant pumps, the welds and joints, as well as the high-pressure systems.

The unit’s system was increased to 25 per cent above what will be the normal operating pressure.

The four units at Barakah will produce 5,600 MW of clean baseload electricity. This will help prevent the release of 21 million tons of carbon emissions each year, the equivalent of removing 3.2 million cars off the roads annually.

The peaceful nuclear energy programme is "on schedule" despite the Covid-19 outbreak, The National reported on May 7.

Enec is now preparing for the safe start-up of Unit 1 in the coming months.

White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogenChromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxideUltramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica contentOphiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on landOlivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour

Brief scores:

Liverpool 3

Mane 24', Shaqiri 73', 80'

Manchester United 1

Lingard 33'

Man of the Match: Fabinho (Liverpool)

Six large-scale objects on show
  • Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
  • The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
  • A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
  • Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
  • A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
  • Torrijos Palace dome
Results
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Farage on Muslim Brotherhood

Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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