UAE Turns to Satellites to Shield Region’s Only Nuclear Plant From Climate Risks

The United Arab Emirates, which operates the Gulf’s only commercial nuclear power station, is for the first time taking special measures to protect the project from the devastating impact of climate change.

Since September, the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre have been monitoring climate and the environment around the Barakah plant from space, officials from the regulatory body said in Abu Dhabi. They have have been collecting information on sea levels, land and water temperatures, earthquakes and other threats, and assessing their severity and potential impact.

The measures are the latest example of the wide-ranging impact of climate change and how governments are being forced to adapt to prevent calamities. Extreme weather events like heat and rain are becoming more intense, frequent and harder to predict, posing major risks for critical infrastructure. Places like the Middle East, where summer temperatures near 50C (122F), are more exposed than most.

Few other countries have turned to satellite technology to monitor risks facing energy infrastructure so far, FANR Director General Christer Viktorsson said. The UK’s National Grid Plc said in late 2022 that it was looking at using satellite imagery to boost the resilience of its electricity and gas grids.FANR hopes its program will alert authorities to any threats with plenty of time. The Barakah plant is located near a hot and arid desert that extends into Saudi Arabia. The sea, which supplies water to cool the plant, is heating up at an alarming rate.

“We need to make sure that we have reliable production of energy in Barakah for 60 years at least,” Viktorsson said. The 5.6-gigawatt plant only reached full commercial operations last year.

Photograph: Engineers at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. Photo credit: Andrea DiCenzo/Getty Images AsiaPac

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