DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A drone strike caused a fire outside a nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, authorities in the United Arab Emirates said.The Abu Dhabi media office said in a statement that the fire broke out in an external electrical generator outside the perimeter of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in Al Dhafra.There were no reports of injuries and there’s no impact on radiological safety levels, it said.The UAE’s nuclear regulator said the fire didn’t impact the plant safety. “All units are operating as normal,” the organization wrote on X.There was no claim of responsibility for the drone strike, and the UAE statement didn’t blame any party for the attack. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Sunday’s strike marked the first time the four-reactor Barakah Nuclear Power Plant has been targeted in the Iran war. The reactor sits in the far western deserts of Abu Dhabi, near the border with Saudi Arabia.
The $20 billion Barakah nuclear power plant was built by the Emirates with the help of South Korea and went online in 2020. It’s the first and only nuclear power plant on the Arabian Peninsula.
