BARAKAH NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
Licences and Assessments
60
years operations licence duration
7
Licences issued to Unit 1
Barakah Nuclear Power Plant
2000
Additional information,
requested
13+
International conventions
signed by the UAE
14,000
pages of the application reviewed
11
IAEA International review missions
After issuing the operation licence for Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in February 2020, FANR completed the review and assessment of NAWAH’s licence application to operate Unit 2 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant. The process included a comprehensive programme of inspections to support the findings that Unit 2 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant had been constructed in accordance with FANR requirements, and that NAWAH is organisationally ready to operate Unit 2.
FANR completed the review and assessment of NAWAH’s licence application to handle and store unirradiated nuclear fuel at Unit 3 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant whilst an inspection was being carried out at the fuel handling and storage area at Unit 3 to determine if NAWAH was ready to receive unirradiated nuclear fuel. The licence for the handling and storage of unirradiated nuclear fuel at Unit 2 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant was issued by FANR in February 2020.
FANR reviewed the Physical Protection Plan and complementary documents such as the Cyber Security Programme Manual, Target Sets Assessment, Contingency Plan and the Vulnerability Assessment for the Operation Licence for Unit 2 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant.
In order to support assessment of the effectiveness of the physical protection of Unit 2 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant against the design basis threat, NAWAH carried out a successful security exercise in December 2020 in support of U2 licensing.
Inspections
185
nuclear safety
inspections in 2020
FANR continued to monitor and evaluate the licensed activities at the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant throughout the year by carrying out inspections led by FANR Headquarters’ staff and continuing the inspection activities of the resident inspectors at the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, whose scope of work includes monitoring the day-to-day construction of the plant, as well as commissioning and operations activities to confirm adherence to FANR’s regulatory requirements. FANR inspectors also had oversight responsibility for witnessing and reviewing the results of the commissioning tests on Unit 2 and Unit 3 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant and the power ascension tests on Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant.
In 2020, FANR conducted 31 nuclear safety inspections covering site construction, commissioning, operational readiness, power ascension testing and vendor inspection activities.
Transition to Operation
A completion report was issued in February 2020 to summarise the activities that had been carried out in 2019 and confirmed that all objectives had been met during transition to the operational phase of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant.
Further training has since been carried out to enhance the skills and competencies of Emirati staff with respect to the design and operation of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant such as :
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Training on the activities carried out during fuel loading and power ascension testing. A non-technical fuel load presentation was also given to FANR staff who are not involved in nuclear safety activities in order to enhance awareness.
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Training on nuclear power plant terminology covering terms used in relation to mechanical equipment, electrical equipment, and in technical diagrams.
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Training on power ascension test training detailing the power plant’s operational activities performed during such testing.