UAE briefs IAEA on plans of nuclear waste management

The United Arab Emirates has presented its plans for managing spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), official news agency WAM reported Monday.

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation is currently constructing a nuclear power plant with four reactors in the western region of Abu Dhabi. The first reactor is scheduled to be operational by 2017.

The plans, presented at an IAEA meeting in Vienna, Austria, outlined the regulatory framework to protect the residents and the environment from any threats potentially posed by spent nuclear power plant fuel and radioactive waste.

The plans also tackled ways of managing radioactive waste and spent fuel prior to their disposal. The UAE, a major oil supplier, is a party to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.

The Gulf state is taking part for the second time in the joint convention review meetings that are held every three years in the IAEA's headquarters in Vienna. It has signed the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which prohibits the use of nuclear power for military purposes.

Currently, 99 percent of the UAE's electricity supplies come from gas-fired plants. Under a government plan, by 2020, nuclear and renewables such as solar and wind power are to deliver 20 percent of the Gulf state's domestic energy needs, according to the Ministry of Energy.

Source: Xinhua News Agency