Australia has confirmed its commitment to export uranium for UAE’s nuclear program, in line with the bilateral 2015 agreement, once the nuclear plants in the Gulf country come online, Australia’s outgoing Ambassador to the UAE, Pablo Kang, told The National.

The 2015 agreement stipulates that Australia – the world’s largest holder of uranium reserves – will export hundreds of tons of uranium to the UAE each year until 2020. The agreement stays in the framework of UAE’s larger goal to have four nuclear plants operational by 2020 to meet up to a quarter of electricity needs of the country and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12m tons a year.

According to announcements in a related interview, nuclear power is to become the largest addition to the UAE’s energy mix, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) CEO, Mohamed Al Hammadi, told Power Magazine. Four Advanced Power Reactor 1400 nuclear units are currently under construction at the Barakah site in the western region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Al Hammadi added that after reviewing multiple energy technologies, it was concluded that nuclear power was the right choice for the UAE, because it was a safe, clean, and proven technology that was commercially viable. In addition, it completes country’s vision to have at least 7% of the nation’s total power generation come from renewable sources by 2020.

ENEC also confirmed that the nuclear program will require qualified human resources in the near future and there were plans to hire graduates from the nuclear technology program recently launched at Abu Dhabi Polytechnic, The National informed in additional news.