Nuclear power plant in Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Approximate location 23.9695, 52.2361.
NuclearEmirate of Abu DhabiUnited Arab EmiratesAPR-1400pressurized water reactor
Barakah nuclear power plant is a 5,668 MW nuclear power station in Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is operated by Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 13 million homes (estimated). It ranks #1 of 60 United Arab Emirates power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2021, it is around 5 years old — recently built. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, nuclear supplies about 22.9% of United Arab Emirates's electricity; the national grid averages 468 gCO₂/kWh (31.7% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GEM_nuc_barakah_unite.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM · 2026 · L100000500011; fuel: GEM GNPT
Technically it is described as pressurized water reactor. Nuclear plants split uranium to raise steam with no direct CO₂; they run as steady baseload with very high capacity factors and the longest operating lifetimes of any thermal plant.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Operated by Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp [100%].
This nuclear plant uses heat from nuclear fission to raise steam for a turbine-generator. It sits in a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 24.0°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Climate zone & typical temperatures: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in an aggressive, high-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C5 — Very high), with marine salt corrosion the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
United Arab Emirates has 1 nuclear power plant in this dataset, together about 5,668 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 23.9695, 52.2361 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Barakah nuclear power plant is a 5,668 MW nuclear power plant in Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, commissioned in 2021.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 12,767,574 homes (estimated).
Barakah nuclear power plant is operated by Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp [100%].
