The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) has conducted a Nuclear Innovation & Technology Summer School, in cooperation with Khalifa University and Emirates Nuclear Technology Centre. The programme was designed to educate and prepare university students for the growing nuclear energy market requirements while enhancing the sustainability of the UAE’s nuclear energy industry.
The educational programme engaged students on critical nuclear topics, developing their technical, innovation and entrepreneurship skills to compete in this vital sector. The programme outcomes included collaborating with national and international nuclear innovation partners to exchange knowledge across multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary entities to develop professional and personal skills.
The five-day educational programme, which also provided the future vision of the region’s nuclear industry, took place from 14th-18th August at Khalifa University and the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, providing an opportunity for students to visit the plant.
A special focus was given to Research and Development (R&D) for next-generation nuclear reactors, including molten salt reactors as well as the Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).
The Nuclear Innovation & Technology Summer School helped students understand the current nuclear energy renaissance from different perspectives, including those of vendors, investors, environmentalists, engineers and entrepreneurs. It enabled them to gain a realistic perspective of the power sector and the pros and cons of different energy sources in balancing the power grid.
ENEC, through the Barakah Plant today provides educational opportunities and highly specialised jobs over its operating lifespan, of at least 60 years, enabling thousands of UAE Nationals to develop long-term careers in the industry. As ENEC now looks to pursue opportunities in advanced technologies and clean molecule generation, further opportunities will become available to young UAE Nationals with the right skills and expertise to join the clean energy sector.
Playing a significant role in the UAE’s clean energy transition, the Barakah Plant is now one unit away from full-fleet operations and realising ENEC’s commitment to accelerate decarbonisation of the power sector by generating up to 25 percent of the UAE’s electricity demand. The first multi-unit operating Plant in the Arab World, Barakah already generates more than 80 percent of Abu Dhabi Emirate’s clean electricity, whilst preventing millions of tons of carbon emissions.
