My name is Shemara

Virgo and I am currently a Decommissioning Engineer at Orano. I joined Orano ' s graduate scheme in October 2022 and, during the 2-year scheme, I have worked in the safety case team, shielding team and the decommissioning team before ultimately choosing decommissioning full time. I like finding answers to the unknown in decommissioning, but I still have a high interest in the radiation side and using the Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code( MCNP). I get involved with the Nuclear Institute ' s Young Generations Network( YGN) by being a company catalyst, which is similar to a company rep. I share details of YGN events, activities and opportunities whilst managing the budget and logistics for Orano.

YGN International Trip- Barakah

Through the YGN I was one of the 26 people chosen to go on the YGN International Trip to Barakah, Abu Dhabi. The plant consists of four Advanced Power Reactors( APR)- 1400. Construction began in July 2012, the last reactor was commissioned in March 2024 and the plant was operating commerically by September 2024.

The UAE ' s project was on time, on budget and is intended to supply up to 25 % of the UAE ' s energy supply, producing a combined capacity of 5.6 GW(~ 5,348 MWe), Barakah produces ~ 40 TWh / year. To compare, in the UK nuclear accounts for just 15 % of the electricity mix in the grid. This plant is a success story not just for the UAE but for the nuclear industry as a whole.

Day 1 – ENEC HQ and British Embassy The first day we met and heard presentations from a series of people including ENEC’ s Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, Barakah ' s Youth Council representatives and two of the trip sponsors- Urenco and Westinghouse. In the afternoon we got to experience Barakah ' s reactor simulator.

The simulator was a great experience as it was my first time seeing one in person rather than on films or TV. The simulator was all digitalised. If there were any changes or problems to a valve for example, the computer logs the incident and changes automatically, meaning that all the history will be easily accessible to operators.

Outside the simulator there was a model of the reactor, and you could push buttons which would highlight which area of the reactor was chosen- simple but I thought it was great.

The Barakah nuclear power plant

The owners of the power plant, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation( ENEC) formed a coalition with Korea Electric Power Corporation( KEPCO) to essentially“ copy and paste” the power plant from South Korea to the UAE.

The model of the reactor has push buttons that highlight the different areas of the reactor

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