UAE's Barakah facility built with safety a priority

The Barakah facility is designed to discharge levels of radioactivity below the internationally accepted limit of one millisieverts (mSv) per annum.

Water used in the operation of the plant and then released into the sea will cause exposure of not more than 0.03 mSv per year, while the gases released by the plant will cause exposure of not more than 0.05 mSv per year.

A network of 30 fixed air quality stations in the vicinity of the plant and mobile stations further away will measure emissions from the plant.

To ensure water safety, samples will be taken directly from the water discharged from the facility at sea, as well as from seawater in the vicinity of the plant.

In the event of a catastrophe, such as a grid disruption or a plane crash, a series of automated safety mechanisms would be set off, including starting diesel generators to supply back-up electricity to keep the reactor running and water to flood the container around the reactor to cool it and force it to eventually shut down.

newsdesk@thenational.ae