Daegu, South Korea: Mohammad Al Hammadi, Chief Executive Officer of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, on Wednesday addressed delegates of the World Energy Congress in Daegu, South Korea, during a session addressing the future of nuclear energy across the world.
Al Hammadi highlighted the importance of nuclear energy as one of only two forms of energy generation technologies capable of providing continuous, safe and efficient electricity with near-zero Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.
“Energy policy makers across responsible nations require increasing levels of clean energy, particularly baseload electricity, which is the uninterrupted, reliable and safe supply of electricity needed to power national growth industries to secure social and economic growth,” said Al Hammadi.
Al Hammadi, who is also the Chairman of the Global Agenda Council on Energy Security of the World Economic Forum, highlighted the efforts of the UAE to diversify its energy portfolio, saying, “The UAE made a comprehensive assessment of its energy portfolio in 2008 and decided to pursue strategic investments in clean energy such as nuclear and renewables to diversify its portfolio, increase energy security and achieve higher quotas of sustainability.”
Speaking during a panel session with experts from the nuclear energy sector that included Luis Echavarri, Director General of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, Daniel L. Roderick, Chief Executive Officer of Westinghouse Electric Company, and Binghua Wang, Chairman of the State Nuclear Power Technology of China, the panel highlighted the outstanding safety track record of the nuclear industry to provide responsible nations with clean, reliable and affordable electricity to power economic and social growth.
They also stressed the fact that there are almost 50 countries worldwide that are operating, building or considering nuclear generation as a viable solution for electricity generation but that the main area of improvement continues to be public acceptance and the education of the basics of nuclear energy and radiation.
Al Hammadi invited the nuclear energy industry to actively engage across industry platforms and the general public to promote the strategic importance of nuclear energy to power the growth of responsible nations across the world while drastically reducing GHG emissions.
