The state-run utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. has completed the installation of a reactor vessel for the United Arab Emirates’ second new nuclear power reactor in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi, the company said Friday. 

“KEPCO has been building a partnership with the UAE by offering the latest cutting-edge technology in nuclear power reactors based on its 40 years of experience on power plant construction and operation,” KEPCO’s executive vice president of overseas operations Park Jung-keun said during a ceremony to mark the installation of its reactor vessel at Barakah.

With the UAE power plant project, South Korea became the world’s sixth-largest nuclear power plant exporter as the KEPCO-led consortium won the order for four nuclear power stations from the UAE in December 2009 at $40 billion combined.

The power stations exported to the UAE are advanced power reactor model 1400, which is the same type as at third and fourth the Shin-Kori plants in Korea. The construction of the first reactor is scheduled to be completed by 2017.

According to KEPCO, the construction of Barakah units 1 and 2 were approximately 66 percent completed as of the end of May.


By Park Han-na
(hnpark@heraldcorp.com)