10 POWERING THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA …
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finished but then decommissioned even before going into operation. The
Zarnowiec nuclear plant in Poland had been under construction in the
1980s but then abandoned in the 1990s. More recently, Vietnam, which
had broken ground on its first-ever nuclear plant in 2014 after nearly a
decade of planning, scrapped plans for two nuclear plants and removed
nuclear power from the country’s future energy mix at the end of 2016.
Work was also halted in 2017 on the two additional reactor units at VC
Summers in South Carolina despite having already incurred costs of $9
billion. Other countries including Australia, Ghana, Ireland, Kuwait, and
Singapore planned for but never built their nuclear plants.
In this regard, the political management of a sustained nuclear commitment in the UAE is crucial and the subject of the following section.
Create New Actors in Favour of the Niche Technology
The first task was the creation of new actors at the regime level with a
vested interest in nuclear-fueled electricity. The aim was to create positive and institutionalized ‘policy feedback’ to make it harder to dismantle
or dilute nuclear energy policy. 57 These actors included an independent
regulatory body (Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation or FANR), a
nuclear plant owner (Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation or ENEC)
and operator (Nawah), a nuclear technology centre to spur innovation on
safety systems, nuclear engineering and other related training courses at
Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa University, and hundreds of trained Emirati nuclear
engineers and specialists. The GCC Interconnection Authority, which was
established in Saudi Arabia in 2001 to promote cross-border electricity
trade, is another example of an actor that has increased its profile and
ambition of late. Having completed the GCC Interconnector in 2011,
an increase of 20% was recorded in cross-border trade although absolute
volumes remain tiny. Nevertheless, the capacity of the Interconnector to
export and hence stabilize national grids that have excess nuclear and
renewable electricity, such as the UAE’s or Saudi Arabia’s in winter,
could enhance GCCIA’s future relevance as an actor supportive of nuclear
energy at the regime level.
In contrast, Kuwait was much less successful in creating new pronuclear actors. Even though the National Nuclear Energy Committee
was headed by the Prime Minister, the Committee was well aware of
the weak autonomy of the government. This is because Kuwait’s political system, in particular, the popularly-elected National Assembly and its
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finished but then decommissioned even before going into operation. The
Zarnowiec nuclear plant in Poland had been under construction in the
1980s but then abandoned in the 1990s. More recently, Vietnam, which
had broken ground on its first-ever nuclear plant in 2014 after nearly a
decade of planning, scrapped plans for two nuclear plants and removed
nuclear power from the country’s future energy mix at the end of 2016.
Work was also halted in 2017 on the two additional reactor units at VC
Summers in South Carolina despite having already incurred costs of $9
billion. Other countries including Australia, Ghana, Ireland, Kuwait, and
Singapore planned for but never built their nuclear plants.
In this regard, the political management of a sustained nuclear commitment in the UAE is crucial and the subject of the following section.
Create New Actors in Favour of the Niche Technology
The first task was the creation of new actors at the regime level with a
vested interest in nuclear-fueled electricity. The aim was to create positive and institutionalized ‘policy feedback’ to make it harder to dismantle
or dilute nuclear energy policy. 57 These actors included an independent
regulatory body (Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation or FANR), a
nuclear plant owner (Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation or ENEC)
and operator (Nawah), a nuclear technology centre to spur innovation on
safety systems, nuclear engineering and other related training courses at
Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa University, and hundreds of trained Emirati nuclear
engineers and specialists. The GCC Interconnection Authority, which was
established in Saudi Arabia in 2001 to promote cross-border electricity
trade, is another example of an actor that has increased its profile and
ambition of late. Having completed the GCC Interconnector in 2011,
an increase of 20% was recorded in cross-border trade although absolute
volumes remain tiny. Nevertheless, the capacity of the Interconnector to
export and hence stabilize national grids that have excess nuclear and
renewable electricity, such as the UAE’s or Saudi Arabia’s in winter,
could enhance GCCIA’s future relevance as an actor supportive of nuclear
energy at the regime level.
In contrast, Kuwait was much less successful in creating new pronuclear actors. Even though the National Nuclear Energy Committee
was headed by the Prime Minister, the Committee was well aware of
the weak autonomy of the government. This is because Kuwait’s political system, in particular, the popularly-elected National Assembly and its