ABU DHABI: Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al-Mazrouei, UAE minister of energy, was hosted by ENEC’s CEO Mohamed Al-Hammadi and other senior management, during a visit to the Barakah nuclear energy plant.
The minister received an update on the project as well as details of a recent construction milestone at the plant from senior UAE engineers.
The completion of major electrical installation work at Unit 1 represents another milestone in the continued progress from construction to commissioning of the plant at Barakah. Teams from ENEC and its prime contractor the Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), have now completed installation of the last piece of major electrical equipment at Unit 1.
During a walking tour of Unit 1, Minister Al-Mazrouei witnessed the progress made and milestones achieved since his last visit in September of last year.
This year alone has seen the energization of the switchyard for Units 1 and 2, the completion of Cold Hydrostatic Testing at Unit 1, the completion of Unit 2’s Reactor Containment Building dome structure, and most recently the completion of major electrical work at Unit 1.
The progress of Barakah was hailed by Minister Al-Mazrouei who said: “I am consistently impressed to see the progress being made at Barakah and the manner in which ENEC continues to deliver with the highest international standards of safety, quality and performance at the very forefront of all its activities. This approach ensures the long-term sustainability of the UAE peaceful nuclear energy program.”
He said: “Nuclear energy will play a critical role in the provision of clean and sustainable energy to power the future of the UAE and diversify the nation’s energy supply.”
The minister also met with some ENEC employees who have come through the Energy Pioneers program — ENEC’s successful human capacity building program that has seen over 400 students study and train in nuclear energy with ENEC’s support.
As part of the completion of major electrical installation at Unit 1, teams from ENEC and KEPCO installed and inspected more than 454 pieces of electrical equipment such as switchgears, motor control centers, and transformers.
During his visit to Barakah, Minister Al-Mazrouei met with members of ENEC’s senior management team and received an update on the company’s program to deliver safe, clean and reliable nuclear electricity.
The visit included an update on ENEC’s Culture of Safety and specific demonstrations on how the organization prioritizes the safety and quality of all work performed at the Barakah site.
ENEC’s CEO Mohamed Al-Hammadi said: “We now have over 19,000 workers at Barakah delivering on our mission to connect safe, clean, reliable and efficient nuclear energy to the UAE. As our program continues to advance, this is a role we take on with great pride and responsibility, and as always, safety remains our overriding priority.”
Since its inception in 2009, ENEC has focused on the safe delivery of the UAE peaceful nuclear energy program, expertly managing the complexity of the site development to ensure that all construction work meets the highest standards of safety and quality.
The UAE’s first nuclear energy plant is located at Barakah in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi. Unit 1 is now more than 87 percent complete and all four units are more than 65 percent complete.
ENEC’s team will be responsible for the operations of four nuclear energy units that are expected to provide up to a quarter of our nation’s electricity needs and to save up to 12 million tons of carbon emissions every year.
Barakah nuclear energy plant: UAE minister is impressed with progress
Barakah nuclear energy plant: UAE minister is impressed with progress
AI will never replace human creativity, says SRMG CEO
- Speaking to Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, Jomana R. Alrashid expressed pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI
RIYADH: Jomana R. Alrashid, CEO of Saudi Research and Media Group, highlighted how AI cannot replace human creativity during a session at The Family Office’s “Investing Is a Sea” summit at Shura Island on Friday.
“You can never replace human creativity. Journalism at the end of the day, and content creation, is all about storytelling, and that’s a creative role that AI does not have the power to do just yet,” Alrashid told the investment summit.
“We will never eliminate that human role which comes in to actually tell that story, do the actual investigative reporting around it, make sure to be able to also tell you what’s news or what’s factual from what’s wrong ... what’s a misinformation from bias, and that’s the bigger role that the editorial player does in the newsroom.”
Speaking on the topic of AI, moderated by Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, the CEO expressed her pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI in a way that was “transformative.”
“We are now translating all of our content leveraging AI. We are also now being able to create documentaries leveraging AI. We now have AI-facilitated fact-checking, AI facilities clipping, transcribing. This is what we believe is the future.”
Alrashid was asked what the journalist of the future would look like. “He’s a journalist and an engineer. He’s someone who needs to understand data. And I think this is another topic that is extremely important, understanding the data that you’re working with,” she said.
“This is something that AI has facilitated as well. I must say that over the past 20 years in the region, especially when it comes to media companies, we did not understand the importance of data.”
The CEO highlighted that previously, media would rely on polling, surveys or viewership numbers, but now more detailed information about what viewers wanted was available.
During the fireside session, Alrashid was asked how the international community viewed the Middle Eastern media. Alrashid said that over the past decades it had played a critical role in informing wider audiences about issues that were extremely complex — politically, culturally and economically — and continued to play that role.
“Right now it has a bigger role to play, given the role again of social media, citizen journalists, content creators. But I also do believe that it has been facilitated by the power that AI has. Now immediately, you can ensure that that kind of content that is being created by credible, tier-A journalists, world-class journalists, can travel beyond its borders, can travel instantly to target different geographies, different people, different countries, in different languages, in different formats.”
She said that there was a big opportunity for Arab media not to be limited to simply Arab consumption, but to finally transcend borders and be available in different languages and to cater to their audiences.
The CEO expressed optimism about the future, emphasizing the importance of having a clear vision, a strong strategy, and full team alignment.
Traditional advertising models, once centered on television and print, were rapidly changing, with social media platforms now dominating advertising revenue.
“It’s drastically changing. Ultimately in the past, we used to compete with one another over viewership. But now we’re also competing with the likes of social media platforms; 80 percent of the advertising revenue in the Middle East goes to the social media platforms, but that means that there’s 80 percent interest opportunities.”
She said that the challenge was to create the right content on these platforms that engaged the target audiences and enabled commercial partnerships. “I don’t think this is a secret, but brands do not like to advertise with news channels. Ultimately, it’s always related with either conflict or war, which is a deterrent to advertisers.
“And that’s why we’ve entered new verticals such as sports. And that’s why we also double down on our lifestyle vertical. Ultimately, we have the largest market share when it comes to lifestyle ... And we’ve launched new platforms such as Billboard Arabia that gives us an entry into music.”
Alrashid said this was why the group was in a strong position to counter the decline in advertising revenues across different platforms, and by introducing new products.
“Another very important IP that we’ve created is events attached to the brands that have been operating in the region for 30-plus years. Any IP or any title right now that doesn’t have an event attached to it is missing out on a very big commercial opportunity that allows us to sit in a room, exchange ideas, talk to one another, get to know one another behind the screen.”
The CEO said that disruption was now constant and often self-driving, adding that the future of the industry was often in storytelling and the ability to innovate by creating persuasive content that connected directly with the audience.
“But the next disruption is going to continue to come from AI. And how quickly this tool and this very powerful technology evolves. And whether we are in a position to cope with it, adapt to it, and absorb it fully or not.”
