Construction on Barakah nuclear reactor achieves milestone

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) successfully installed its Unit 2 Steam Generators (SGs) at Barakah, another safe and on-time milestone in the development of the country’s first nuclear energy plant.

The two massive stainless steel SG units are similar in length to a tennis court and were manufactured in South Korea over a period of four years by Doosan Heavy Industries. Following fabrication, the generators were shipped to Barakah where they were set in place inside the Unit 2 Reactor Containment Building.

“This is an important milestone in the continued progress and delivery of ENEC’s second unit, which is scheduled to come online approximately one year after the first unit, which will be in 2017,” Mohamed Al Hammadi, ENEC CEO, said. “As with all of our work at Barakah, I am proud to see the team continue to deliver these significant achievements with safety, quality and performance as top priority at all times.”

A nuclear energy plant that uses Pressurized Water Technology such as the one under construction at Barakah employs steam generators to act as heat exchanger. That water turns the heat generated from the nuclear reaction into steam.

Each of Barakah’s steam generators will contain numerous tubes that safely carry heated processed water at high pressure. The tubes are made of an alloy composed of nickel, chromium and iron, making them strong and corrosion resistant, even at high temperatures.

Over the next six months, further piping connection work will take place to connect the steam generators to the Unit 2 Reactor Vessel.