UAE-based state-owned company Emirates Nuclear Energy (ENE) has received a $2bn loan from the US Export-Import Bank for an atomic power plant being developed in Abu Dhabi.
The bank has authorised the direct loan to Barakah One, a unit of ENE, to underwrite the export of American equipment and service-expertise for the construction of four 1,400MW nuclear reactors.
The company plans to set up the power-generating units on a coastal strip along the Arabian Gulf, 220km from Abu Dhabi.
Korea Electric Power will supply the reactors with an APR 1400 design, with the reactors going live at one-year intervals from 2017.
US-based Westinghouse Electric will provide coolant pumps, reactor components, controls, engineering services, and training.
Westinghouse Electric president and COO, Ric Perez, said the company will remain dedicated to ensure effective implementation of the four-unit Barakah project and related loan.
"This work will create and sustain US jobs in California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and other states home to Westinghouse sub-suppliers," Perez added.
"Within Westinghouse alone, the Barakah project will allow us to maintain about 600 US jobs. In addition, the bank’s support will sustain hundreds of well-paying jobs at Westinghouse’s US sub-suppliers and indirect jobs in the service industry."
US Ex-Im Bank chairman and president Fred P Hochberg highlighted the significance of creating 5,000 jobs to the US economy as a result of this transaction.
"In addition to bolstering American jobs, Ex-Im Bank will make history by backing the construction of the first nuclear power plant on the Arabian Peninsula," Hochberg added.
