Abu Dhabi, April 23: The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp (ENEC) on Thursday announced it has chosen a site near the Saudi border for its first nuclear power station, due to come on stream in seven years.
It said the facility will be built at Braqa, 53 kilometres (33 miles) southwest of the Gulf coast town of Ruwais in western Abu Dhabi in a sparsely populated area of desert.
The 13-square-kilometre (five-square-mile) site was chosen from 10 sites across the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven emirates in which oil-rich Abu Dhabi is the largest.
The statement said ENEC hoped to secure the necessary authorisation before July 5 so it can start building, with the aim of generating electricity by 2017.
In late December, the UAE awarded a 20.4-billion-dollar contract to build four nuclear power plants to a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO).
The consortium comprises KEPCO, Samsung, Hyundai and Doosan Heavy Industries, along with US firm Westinghouse, Toshiba of Japan and KEPCO subsidiaries, ENEC said.
—Agencies