ABU DHABI: The UAE is considering building a second nuclear power plant to meet the growing demand for electricity in the Gulf state, a government official told Reuters.
The country of some 10 million people has become a proponent of nuclear power, a low-carbon energy source, as it seeks to diversify its economy and attract foreign investment. Its first plant started commercial operations in 2021.
Any contract for a new nuclear power plant would be worth tens of billions of dollars and could attract tender bids from China, Russia and the US, among others.
As the final reactor of the UAE’s only nuclear plant is set to start commercial operations this year, Hamad Al-Kaabi said the government was evaluating whether to build a second plant.
“The government is looking at this option. No final decision has been made in terms of the tender process but I can tell you that the government is actively exploring this option,” he said.
The government is projecting there will be a substantial increase in electricity use over the next decade that will be driven by population growth and an expanding industrial sector.
The government has yet to budget for a second power plant or decide on the size or the location, but Al-Kaabi said it was possible a tender could be issued this year.
Sources told Reuters in April the UAE planned a second nuclear power plant and that it could seek bids to build a four-reactor facility within a few months.
Any new power plant would likely consist of two or four reactors, said Al-Kaabi, who is the UAE’s ambassador to Austria and the permanent representative to the UN’s nuclear agency.
The size of a new power plant would depend on the build and technology, he said, adding that South Korea, which built the existing plant, would not be treated as a favored bidder for any tender.
“It’s a policy decision to give opportunity for all potential bidders,” he said in an interview in Abu Dhabi.
Al-Kaabi also serves as the deputy chairman of the board of management of the UAE nuclear regulator known as FANR.
The UAE awarded Korea Electric Power Corporation a $20 billion contract in 2009 to design, build and operate four reactors in Abu Dhabi toward the border with Saudi Arabia.
KEPCO operates the plant in a joint venture with the power plant’s state owner, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation.
Each of the Barakah power plant’s reactors has a capacity of 1400 megawatts and a total combined capacity of 5600 megawatts.
Al-Kaabi said the UAE has had discussions with major developers of nuclear energy technology but did not name them.
The UAE is a close security partner of the US and in 2009 signed nuclear energy cooperation agreement with Washington.
It says its nuclear program is peaceful and solely for energy purposes to decrease its reliance on oil, and buys the fuel it needs for its reactors from the international market to avoid enriching uranium. Enriched uranium, the fuel for nuclear power plants, can be used to make nuclear bombs.
Removing enrichment from nuclear programs decreases the potential for weapons development.
The UAE sits across the Gulf from Iran, which the US accuses of trying to develop weapons with its nuclear program, while Tehran says it needs atomic power. The UAE also neighbors Saudi Arabia, which is in talks with the US over ambitions to develop its own civil nuclear power industry.
UAE considers building second nuclear power plant
https://arab.news/rr63b
UAE considers building second nuclear power plant
- New plant would cost billions of dollars, tender could be issued this year
- Sole nuclear plant started commercial operations in 2019
World must prioritize resilience over disruption, economic experts warn
- Al-Jadaan said that much of the anxiety dominating markets reflected a world that had already been shifting for years
- Pointing to Asia and the Gulf, Al-Jadaan said that some countries had already built models based on diversification and resilience
DAVOS: Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan urged policymakers and investors to “mute the noise” and focus on resilience, as global leaders gathered in Davos on Friday against a backdrop of trade tensions, geopolitical uncertainty and rapid technological change.
Speaking on the final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Al-Jadaan said that much of the anxiety dominating markets reflected a world that had already been shifting for years.
“We need to define who ‘we’ are in this so-called new world order,” he said, arguing that many emerging economies had been adapting to a more fragmented global system for decades.
Pointing to Asia and the Gulf, Al-Jadaan said that some countries had already built models based on diversification and resilience. In energy markets, he pointed out that the focus should remain on balancing supply and demand in a way that incentivized investment without harming the global economy.
“Our role in OPEC is to stabilize the market,” he said.
His remarks were echoed by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Alibrahim, who said that uncertainty had weighed heavily on growth, investment and geopolitical risk, but that reality had proven more resilient.
“The economy has adjusted and continues to move forward,” Alibrahim said.
Alibrahim warned that pragmatism had become scarce, trust increasingly transactional, and collaboration more fragile. “Stability cannot be quickly built or bought,” he said.
Alibrahim called for a shift away from preserving the status quo towards the practical ingredients that made cooperation work, stressing discipline and long-term thinking even when views diverged.
Quoting Saudi Arabia’s founding King Abdulaziz Al-Saud, he added: “Facing challenges requires strength and confidence, there is no virtue in weakness. We cannot sit idle.”
President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde stressed the importance of distinguishing meaningful data from headline noise, saying: “Our duty as central bankers is to separate the signal from the noise. The real numbers are growth numbers not nominal ones.”
Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva echoed Lagarde’s sentiments, saying that the world had entered a more “shock prone” environment shaped by technology and geopolitics.
Director General of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that the global trade systems currently in place were remarkably resilient, pointing out that 72 percent of global trade continued despite disruptions.
She urged governments and businesses, however, to avoid overreacting.
Okonjo Iweala said that a return to the old order was unlikely, but trade would remain essential. Georgieva agreed, saying global trade would continue, albeit in a different form.
Georgieva warned that AI would accelerate economic transformation at an unprecedented speed. The IMF expects 60 percent of jobs to be affected by AI, either enhanced or displaced, with entry-level roles and middle-class workers facing the greatest pressure.
Lagarde warned that without cooperation, capital and data flows would suffer, undermining productivity and growth.
Al-Jadaan said that power dynamics had always shaped global relations, but dialogue remained essential. “The fact that thousands of leaders came here says something,” he said. “Some things cannot be done alone.”
In another session titled Geopolitical Risks Outlook for 2026, former US Democratic representative Jane Harman said that because of AI, the world was safer in some ways but worse off in others.
“I think AI can make the world riskier if it gets in the wrong hands and is used without guardrails to kill all of us. But AI also has enormous promise. AI may be a development tool that moves the third world ahead faster than our world, which has pretty messy politics,” she said.
American economist Eswar Prasad said that currently the world was in a “doom loop.”
Prasad said that the global economy was stuck in a negative-feedback loop and economics, domestic politics and geopolitics were only bringing out the worst in each other.
“Technology could lead to shared prosperity but what we are seeing is much more concentration of economic and financial power within and between countries, potentially making it a destabilizing force,” he said.
Prasad predicted that AI and tech development would impact growing economies the most. But he said that there was uncertainty about whether these developments would create job opportunities and growth in developing countries.
Professor of international political economy at the University of New South Wales in Australia, Elizabeth Thurbon, said that China was driving a Green Energy transition in a way that should be modeled by the rest of the world.
“The Chinese government is using the Green Energy Transition to boost energy security and is manufacturing its own energy to reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports,” she explained.
Thurbon said that China was using this transition to boost economic security, social security and geostrategic security. She viewed this as a huge security-enhancing opportunity and every country had the ability to use the energy transition as a national security multiplier.
“We are seeing an enormous dynamism across emerging market economies driven by China. This boom loop is being driven by enormous investments in green energy. Two-thirds of global investment flowing into renewable energy is driven largely by China,” she said.
Thurbon said that China was taking an interesting approach to building relationships with countries by putting economic engagement on the forefront of what they had to offer.
“China is doing all it can to ensure economic partnership with emerging economies are productive. It’s important to approach alliances as not just political alliances but investment in economy, future and the flourishment of a state,” she said.
The panel criticized global economic treaties and laws, and expressed the need for immediate reforms in economic governing bodies.
“If you are a developing economy, the rules of the WTO, for example, are not helpful for you to develop. A lot of the rules make it difficult to pursue an economic development agenda. These regulations are not allowing the economies to grow,” Thurbon said.
“Serious reform must be made in international trade agreements, economic bodies and rules and guidelines,” she added.
Prasad echoed this sentiment and said there was a need for national and international reform in global economic institutions.
“These institutions are not working very well so we can reconfigure them or rebuild them from scratch. But unfortunately the task of rebuilding falls into the hands of those who are shredding them,” he said.
WEF attendees were invited to join the Global Collaboration and Growth meeting to be held in Saudi Arabia in April 2026 to continue addressing the complex global challenges and engage in dialogue.
