His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, attended yesterday a lecture at his Majlis on ”Fukushima Accident and Future of Nuclear Energy” delivered by prominent nuclear expert Dr. Dale E. Klein.
The lecture was attended by Mohammed Ahmed Al-Murr, Speaker of Federal National Council (FNC), H.H. Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, H.H. Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chief of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court, H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Advisor to the UAE President, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Public Works, Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, a number of ministers, ambassadors
and energy experts and researchers.
Dr. Klein hailed the UAE’s peaceful nuclear energy programme as a model and serves as a gold standard for many countries.
He said the UAE was adopting a transparent and open policy which explains to the world every step it is taking to implement its civilian nuclear programme.
He also noted to its commended efforts to educate the public about the nature of work of the reactor and its importance for producing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
As Japan on Sunday marked the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in the northeastern part of the country that triggered the Fukushima nuclear accident, world’s worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl accident, the lecturer highlighted the vital importance of safety and security in nuclear plants and of lessons learnt from Japan’s accident in order to avoid future similar crisis.
The UAE, he added, has a regulatory, political and legislative agency whose officials are following up the nuclear programme which is progressing in the most safest way.
Citing statistics, he said Japan’s earthquake claimed 22,000 lives and incurred huge losses estimated at US$ 500 billion.
He said the world opted to build nuclear plants to generate electricity as part of efforts to diversify the energy mix and maintain it for future generation, keeping in mind the depletion of fossil fuel by time.
According to him, there are 435 nuclear power plants across the world including 104 commercial stations in the US in addition to military nuclear plants operating in submarines and aircraft carriers. France has 58 nuclear power plants, and China has 26 under construction. Worldwide, there are 63 new plants under construction including four in the UAE.
Answering a question about features of the UAE civilian nuclear programme, Dr. Klein said that some improvements are currently being made and it is important to understand the reality on the ground and study the height above sea level. Here there is no tsunami but there is a need for strong breakwaters.
Turning to Iran’s nuclear programme, he termed it as one of the most daunting international challenges for lack of transparency and it is not clear about safety and about training to respond to risks.
