Everybody knows nuclear power plants take too long to build and cost too much. Well, almost everybody. The United Arab Emirates apparently don’t know this because they’ve never experienced it. And that’s because in 2021 their enormous Korean-built Barakah nuclear power plant switched online, making the UAE the first Arab country with a nuclear power plant.

And now the UAE wants more. But before we dive into the country’s push for new reactors, let’s take a look at Barakah and what it taught the world about new nuclear builds.