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The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) submitted its evaluation of the lessons learned from the March 2011 accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Friday December 30, 2011, to the UAE’s independent nuclear energy regulator, the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR).
ABU DHABI, January 2, 2012 – The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) submitted its evaluation of the lessons learned from the March 2011 accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Friday December 30, 2011, to the UAE’s independent nuclear energy regulator, the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR). The review represents an additional assessment of the safety of the proposed nuclear energy plant. ENEC has previously presented a comprehensive safety case for the plant, which is detailed in its Construction License Application (CLA). The CLA was submitted to FANR in December 2010.
ENEC’s CLA involved a rigorous 12-month review and safety analysis of the design of the plant and the proposed site, Braka, in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi. The CLA is approximately 9,000 pages in length and is based substantially on the analysis done for, and licenses granted by the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) to KEPCO for Shin Kori 3&4 units in Korea, the “reference plant” for the UAE program. ENEC has selected KEPCO’s APR1400, a Generation III, 1400 Megawatt nuclear energy plant - proven technology that meets the highest international standards for safety and performance. The plants are designed to withstand extreme events including tsunami, earthquake and station black-out. However, one of the most important factors in ENEC’s selection of Braka as its preferred site was the fact that it is in an area with a very low probability of earthquakes – what is called ‘low seismicity’. The Arabian Gulf is also not an area with a history of tsunami activity. The main focus of this additional assessment, which was requested by FANR on 4 July 2011, was to determine the robustness of ENEC’s proposed nuclear energy plants in response to ‘Beyond Design Basis’ events. Beyond Design Basis events are defined as events that are extremely unlikely to occur, and are therefore considered beyond the scope of design-basis events that a nuclear facility must be designed and built to withstand. In this assessment, ENEC analyzed the plant’s design in the context of extreme natural events to ascertain if further enhancements could be made to the current design of the UAE’s proposed nuclear energy plant to further strengthen safety. Governments and national nuclear energy regulators around the world have called for a review of their country’s nuclear safety standards and station infrastructure following the devastating 9.0M Great Eastern Japan earthquake and the resulting tsunami responsible for the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plants. ENEC’s nine-month review has reflected a high level of plant robustness against natural hazards, a loss of electrical power to the site, and for the management of severe accidents. In the report, ENEC has proposed a number of design changes to further improve the plant safety margins.
“We are confident in the robustness of the technology, the rigor of our design, and the extensive analysis and research that led to the identification of our preferred site,” said Mohamed Al Hammadi, Chief Executive Officer of ENEC. “However, it is our responsibility to continually evaluate and enhance safety standards throughout the life of the program and we are committed to applying any relevant lessons learned from Japan to ensure our plants maintain the highest standards of safety possible.” This additional assessment will now be reviewed and evaluated by FANR alongside ENEC’s Construction License Application. ENEC is only authorized to carry out site preparation works until it receives the Construction License from FANR for the first two units.
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