By Sohn JiAe
Photos = Cheong Wa Dae

President Moon Jae-in attended a ceremony to commemorate Barakah Unit 1, the first nuclear energy plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and also in the Middle East, and Korea’s first overseas nuclear power project, on March 26 during his official visit to Abu Dhabi.

The project includes four nuclear energy plants in the Barakah region of the UAE, around 270 km west of Abu Dhabi. The first completed unit will begin to load fuel and come into operation in May.

The ceremony had in attendance more than 200 representatives, including Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and dignitaries from governments, companies and organizations in both Korea and the UAE.

President Moon said in a meeting with Korean workers at the construction site that, “The life stories that you guys have made in sweat here in the UAE over the past few years will be remembered as one of the gleaming achievements in the history of economic growth that Korea has accomplished.”

“The Barakah complex is an exemplary model in many aspects, as the project came in on deadline, securely, safely, economically and efficiently. Under such difficult circumstances, plagued by a dry desert and sweltering heat, you’re writing a new page in the history of our nuclear power plant constructions,” the president stressed.

President Moon expressed his hope that the Barakah project, which will deliver a stable supply of electricity across the UAE, would further expand Korea-UAE bilateral cooperation into other fields of the energy industry, healthcare, semiconductors, science & technology, container terminals and even agriculture.

Under the plan for Barakah, three more nuclear plants, four in total, will be complete by 2020, and the four units are expected to contribute almost 25 percent of the UAE’s electricity.



jiae5853@korea.kr