UAE ready to share nuke experience with Turkey

By Huseyin Erdogan

ISTANBUL (AA) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ready to share its nuclear expertise gained from implementing its nuclear power fast track program, according to the country's energy minister at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul on Wednesday.

United Arab Emirates expects to start using electricity from nuclear power plants in 2017.

According to the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), nuclear energy will produce nearly a quarter of the nation's electricity needs by 2020.

It accepted a $20 billion bid from a South Korean consortium to build four commercial nuclear power reactors, totaling 5.6 gigawatts electrical (GWe), by 2020 at Barakah, according to the Nuclear Power Association.

Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that they benefited from a "very successful fast track program."

"Our nuclear program is the newest, and we are willing to help in this field if required," he added.

UAE, an oil producer and a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said following the energy ministers' meeting at the sidelines of the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, that no outcome has arisen from the meeting but he said he looks forward to the meeting in Vienna in October.

An invitation will be sent to key countries outside of the cartel to join the OPEC meeting to be held in Vienna on Oct. 29, Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, OPEC president and Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry said on Wednesday.

Russia has confirmed it has received its invitation.