IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2016 - 38

Al Hosani and ENEC Chief Nuclear Officer George Vanderheyden (center) with the
Simulator Training Center team.

offering outreach, mentorship, and financial scholarships.
Al Hosani was accepted into the Energy Pioneers program and was hired by
ENEC. Today she finds herself in good
company: 21% of the ENEC workforce
is female, which Al Hosani says is higher
than the global nuclear industry average.
Yet, among these women, Al Hosani holds
a very distinctive title. When she received
her master's degree in nuclear engineering in 2012 at the age of 26, she made history by becoming the UAE's first female
nuclear scientist.
Today, the four reactors that will one
day form the Barakah nuclear power
plant rise from the horizon. As head of
simulators, Al Hosani awakens at 5 a.m.
to ensure that the UAE meets its growing
energy need safely. "I wake up every day
anxious to go to work," Al Hosani says.
"Every day is a new opportunity to learn
and be challenged."
Emiratis have shown great public
support for the nuclear energy program,
and this makes Al Hosani very proud.
She loves being part of a team that makes
sure the plant is operated to the highest
international standards. She calls the nuclear energy sector a "rewarding culture
that values safety, integrity, transparency,

IEEE womEn In EngInEErIng magazInE

and expertise at all levels." She enjoys being part of a workforce that is making
history, and she strives sure to develop
young talent through many programs
that ENEC supports.

The Highest Level
of Operational Safety
Barakah is a massive undertaking. Much
of the work is contracted to foreign

Al Hosani receives her UAE Pioneers
Award from Mohammed bin Rashid
Al Maktoum, vice president and
prime minister of the UAE, in 2014
for becoming the nation's first female
nuclear engineer.

December 2016

entities with heavy expertise, a key reason for the project's smooth schedule.
The reactors are being built by South Korean conglomerate Korea Electric Power
Co. (KEPCO). Still, it is very important
to ENEC that as much work as possible
go to those within the UAE; US$3 billion
has been awarded to Emirati companies
that are supporting the UAE nuclear
energy program. This investment helps
drive the development of this new industry and ensures that the UAE economy
will continue to grow long term.
The project promises to both meet a
quarter of the UAE's electricity demand
by 2020 and to do so in an environmentally sustainable fashion. Nuclear energy
emits no air pollution, generates much
less waste than comparable energy options, and is practically carbon free. According to Al Hosani, Barakah will save
up to 12 million tons of carbon emissions
each year, and it is the linchpin in a longterm energy portfolio that will one day
also include solar and wind.
Day to day, though, it is the safety of
operations that is of utmost concern. This
is where Al Hosani and her team come in.
Simulators must be developed, operators
must be trained, and, in the future, operators will need to continuously requalify.
The job is complicated, but the goals are
easy to define: "My job is to help ENEC
achieve the highest level of operational
safety and quality," Al Hosani explains.
The Simulator Training Center where
Al Hosani works is a 7,000 m2 facility that
sits alongside Barakah. Within the lab
are two complete replicas of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant's main control
room. While construction has continued
on around them, the first simulator has
been in place since early 2014, and a second one was added in July 2015. They are
among the most advanced nuclear-training devices in the world.
All future plant operators pass through
these doors, spending no less than 26
weeks making sure that they can handle
any scenarios the massive 75-system reactor might throw at them. Al Hosani

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2016