The International Advisory Board (IAB), established by the United Arab Emirates’ (U.A.E.) government to provide ongoing, objective analysis and commentary on the progress of the U.A.E.’s civilian nuclear energy program, submitted the first edition of their semi-annual progress report this week. The IAB, an organization founded on the principle of ensuring optimal transparency, is chaired by former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Dr. Hans Blix and is compromised of experts from around the world specializing in the fields of nuclear technology, safety, non-proliferation, and security.
The report, which has been made available to the public on IAB’s website, concludes that the U.A.E. operates its peaceful civil nuclear program within a regulatory environment that exhibits the highest standards of safety and security. The IAB commended the U.A.E.’s Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), a national watchdog established by the U.A.E. to self-regulate its nuclear program, for illustrating its commitment to working in close coordination with the IAEA to ensure that best practices and global regulations are upheld in accordance with international law.
The report underscored the IAB’s recognition of the U.A.E.’s commitment to international non-proliferation efforts and to the sustainability of their own peaceful civilian nuclear program: “The U.A.E.’s peaceful nuclear energy program is living up to its international commitment to non-proliferation…through renouncing any intention to develop domestic enrichment and reprocessing capability and obtaining its fuel from reliable and responsible international suppliers. Furthermore, the U.A.E. government has been active beyond its own national nuclear program to support global non-proliferation efforts and to enhance confidence in the international cooperation in peaceful use of nuclear power.”
The report confirmed the U.A.E.’s intention to open their first nuclear plant in 2017 and to provide their national labor force with educational opportunities in nuclear engineering and sciences to ensure that operational sustainability is created and maintained as the program develops over the next few decades. To that end, the IAB’s report highlighted a few dedicated education and training programs that the U.A.E. government has implemented to achieve its goal of a locally-run peaceful civilian nuclear energy program in accordance with the country’s “Emiratisation” initiative.
The findings in the IAB report are unbiased and authored by globally-renowned experts in the international nuclear community. The reports will continue to be issued on a semi-annual basis, be made available to the general public, and will intimately monitor the progress of the U.A.E.’s peaceful civilian nuclear program.
A copy of the full IAB report can be found here: http://www.uaeiab.ae/publications.php.
