UAE nuclear energy plant seen ready in 2015: International Atomic Energy Agency

The united Arab Emirates, Dubai has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency, that it plans to have the first nuclear power plant to be functional in 2015, according to an IAEA official, while the organization believes that it is optimistic.

‘The UAE government told us that the plant would be ready and generating power by 2015,’ Ali Boussaha, a director at the IAEA, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai. I think this is optimistic because it generally takes 10-15 years to get people trained and infrastructure in place.The Gulf Arab state was on a fast-track plan to develop nuclear power and was taking technical advice from the IAEA,’ Boussaha said.

2017 is the latest date estimated by the industry for setting up such a plant in the UAE. Barack Obama, the President of US gave an approval on Wednesday for a nuclear energy deal with the UAE worth billions of dollars to US energy companies. The UAE, ranks at the third position for being the largest oil exporter, and now is planning to create several nuclear reactors to meet the need for an extra demand of 40,000 megawatts of electricity by the year 2017.

GE and Westinghouse Electric Co, a subsidiary of Toshiba Corp, the US builders of nuclear reactor, stand to hold a big share of the much expected $40 billion market if the deal is approved by Congress. Suez, France’s Total, Suez, and state nuclear reactor maker Areva said previous year they had made a plan to create two third-generation nuclear reactors in the UAE. The UAE has said it plans to launch an agency worth $100 million to get involved into the development of nuclear energy to appease the rapidly rising demand for electricity with the growth of industry. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a unfastened congregation of Arab states comprising the UAE, said it was studying developing a combined nuclear energy programme in 2006.