Barakah plant to give South Korea opportunity for more development projects
President Moon Jae-in and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan stand with government officials and workers of Korea and the United Arab Emirates, momon, in front of a reactor in Barakah which Korean companies completed construction of. / Yonhap
By Kim Rahn
ABU DHABI ― President Moon Jae-in said Monday the nuclear power plant being built by Korean companies in Barakah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be a stable supply of energy for the country and become a next-generation growth engine for Korea.
He said the successful construction will give Korea a better chance to win another bid for a nuclear plant project in Saudi Arabia
Moon celebrated the completion of the construction of the UAE’s first nuclear reactor at the construction site at the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Some 200 officials from the two governments and related companies took part in the ceremony.
The reactor is the UAE’s first and also the first for a Korean company to build overseas. Korea won the bid for the $18.6 billion project to build four reactors at the end of 2009. The construction of the remaining three is slated for completion in 2020, and then the nuclear plant will generate 25 percent of the UAE’s total electricity demand.
Saying he was proud of Korea’s nuclear technology, the President said the Barakah project was a model for nuclear plant construction, as the Korean companies managed to install the first reactor safely within the promised time period and designated budget, despite unfavorable environmental factors including high temperatures and a remote desert location.
“At Sunday’s summit, the crown prince expressed gratitude toward the Korean workers, companies and government, showing full confidence in Korea’s technology,” Moon told Korean workers there after the celebration. “He also promised to give priority to Korea for other development projects in western Abu Dhabi.”
Moon also told the crown prince that after Korea adopted nuclear reactor construction technologies and skills from the United States, it developed its own technologies and now exports them.
“He said he would help the UAE walk the same path as Korea,” presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said.
The government regards the Barakah project as the start of Korean companies’ advancement into the Middle East in energy. During the summit, the crown prince told Moon that he would help Korea win the bid for a nuclear plant project in Saudi Arabia, showing his satisfaction with how Korea is carrying out the Barakah project.
When the dignitaries moved from a celebration ceremony to the reactor for photographs, the crown prince personally drove a car with Moon in the passenger seat.
“The cooperation in the Barakah project, where Korea’s technology and the UAE’s capital was successfully combined, will be expanded in more varied ways,” Moon said, adding the two nations could seek to advance into energy development projects in third countries.
After the ceremony, Moon met and encouraged Korean workers there, having lunch with them. Of about 14,300 workers at the construction site, some 2,700 are Korean.
“The successful completion of the reactor is attributable to your endeavors,” Moon told them. “The project has shown Korea’s nuclear reactor technology and business capabilities to the world. I hope you will be confident in your follow-up management of the reactor.”