The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) has signed an MoU with TerraPower, an American nuclear innovation company.

The MoU was signed during COP28 by Ahmed al Mazroui, Nuclear Research and Development VP of ENEC and Chris Levesque, President and CEO of TerraPower in a ceremony attended by H.E Mohamed Al Hammadi, MD and CEO of ENEC, and Mr Bill Gates, the Chairman of TerraPower, and David Livingston, Senior Advisor & MD for Energy for the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

ENEC and TerraPower will collaborate across a range of areas including technical design and commercial viability of the TerraPower Natrium technology development in the UAE and the USA.

This technology will be used for clean electricity generation and non-traditional applications such as green molecule generation, clean hydrogen production and ways to accelerate decarbonization of energy intensive sectors through the provision of carbon-free electricity.

The Natrium technology features a cost-competitive sodium fast reactor, combined with a molten salt energy storage system. This unique combination will provide clean, flexible energy and stability that can integrate into existing power grids.

ENEC and TerraPower will assess ways to optimize the use of the Natrium technology for grid stability through energy storage capabilities.

The MoU will enable both parties to analyze opportunities to collaborate on engineering, workforce and supply chain development, supporting projects within the UAE with potential secondments of Emirati engineers to TerraPower’s headquarters in the US.

H.E Mohamed Ibrahim Al Hammadi commented: “Our message at COP28 is that nuclear energy is vital to achieve Net Zero, in line with the announcement in the past days by world leaders who have called for a tripling of global nuclear energy capacity by 2050.

"In the UAE, nuclear is at the heart of our clean energy progress and strategy, with the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant contributing the largest decarbonization effort in our nation’s history.

"Our new agreement with TerraPower will facilitate cooperation in taking nuclear energy technology to the next level, by accelerating its deployment and its use for innovating new solutions including the production of clean molecules and hydrogen.”

“Bringing advanced nuclear technologies to market is critical to meeting global decarbonization targets,” said TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque.

“TerraPower and ENEC are leading the way in deploying nuclear plants, and this agreement allows us to share our expertise and design experience and explore the opportunity for deployment of Natrium reactors around the world including additional locations in the United States."

Having successfully built and developed one of the world’s largest nuclear plants in the world, ENEC is well placed to work together with TerraPower to identify opportunities for deployment.

The partnership will give access to both sides on lessons learned on project management, construction, integration, operations and R&D.

The MoU also opens the door for ENEC to lead a broader regional deployment of TerraPower’s Natrium technology across the Middle East, Africa and the Indian subcontinental regions.

The aim will be to jointly accelerate the commercialization and global deployment of Natrium technology under licensing agreements with TerraPower and within the framework of the existing US–UAE PACE program.

The collaboration between ENEC and TerraPower aligns with the recently launched ENEC ADVANCE Program, a new program to harness the latest advancements in nuclear energy technologies.

The program is provisioned to strengthen the UAE’s position as a leading nation in delivering climate action by accelerating the global clean energy transition to Net Zero.