DUBAI: The start-up of the Arab world’s first nuclear reactor - in the United Arab Emirates - has been delayed and should start operations between the end of 2019 and early 2020, the plant’s operator said on Saturday. Nawah Energy Company, the operator of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the Al-Dhafra Region of Abu Dhabi, said it “has completed a comprehensive operational readiness review” for an updated start-up schedule for the reactor. The US$24.4 billion Barakah power plant is the world’s largest nuclear project under construction and will be the first in the Arab world. The UAE will be the first new country to acquire nuclear power in more than two decades. Bangladesh, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are preparing to follow suit and the World Nuclear Association estimates that nuclear power is planned in over 20 countries which do not currently have it.

Source: New Strait Times May 26, 2018 23:15 UTC