The government of the United Arab Emirates has formed a company to run its nuclear energy programme, which is expected to result in lucrative energy deals for foreign firms, a statement said.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE, passed a law yesterday setting up the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), which is planning the Arab world's first nuclear-power plants. Contracts are estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars, a statement said.
"We have completed a comprehensive assessment of all available methods for the production of electricity, and reached the conclusion that nuclear energy is an effective option that would meet the needs of the state in the next decade" said Mohammed Al Hammadi, ENEC's chief executive officer.
He said the company was in the final stage of looking at offers from firms who had entered the bidding process.
ENEC is also in an advanced stage of evaluating potential sites for nuclear power plants throughout the UAE. A team of UAE and international experts has been conducting scientific studies in seismology, geology, the environment and other factors related to the location of a new plant, the statement said.
Construction of the UAE's first reactor is scheduled to commence in 2012 and the country is planning to start generating electricity from it in 2017, the statement said.
In October 2009 the UAE said it would be creating an independent nuclear regulatory body. At the time the UAE said the board's first director-general would be William Travers, who has served as a senior technical adviser at the International Atomic Energy Agency and executive director for operations at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
