From Deutsche - Welle:
The United Arab Emirates will turn on the Arab world's first nuclear power plant in just a few months. In the charged atmosphere of the Persian Gulf, what are the risks?
When UAE regulators said on Monday they had given the green light to start loading nuclear fuel at the Barakah power plant — the Arab world's first — the announcement raised concerns.
While Abu Dhabi Crown Prince hailed it as a "new chapter in our journey for the development of peaceful nuclear energy," tensions have been high in the Persian Gulf after the long-simmering issue of Iran's nuclear program recently contributed to bringing it to the brink of open war with the US.
In the wider region, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey also have nuclear programs with varying ambitions."It's the wrong reactor, in the wrong place, at the wrong time," said Paul Dorfman, a senior researcher at the international expert body Nuclear Consulting Group (NCG).Also at D -W:
"It's not safe enough ... it wouldn't be allowed to be built in Europe, and the Gulf region is militarily volatile, as we've seen with the attack on Saudi oil," Dorfman said, referring to the 2019 drone and missile attacks that knocked out half of the world's top oil exporter's production.
A December report Dorfman wrote for the NCG said the four plants under construction in the UAE are being built without emergency containment features that are required in Europe. Cracks had also been previously found in two of the concrete structures housing the reactors.
The threat of attacks on the Barakah plant was first hinted at when Yemeni rebels claimed to have fired a missile at the site while it was under construction in 2017. The report also highlighted the potential for accident or sabotage as nuclear fuel and waste is transported through the unstable Strait of Hormuz, an added source of worry in a region that relies on desalination plants for the majority of its drinking water....MORE
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