As per the deal, a consortium led by Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) will design, build and help operate and maintain four 1,400 megawatt nuclear power plants for the Emirates Nuclear Energy.
The first unit is expected to supply power to the grid by 2017, while the others will start supplying electricity by 2020.
The Korean-led group of companies includes Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), Samsung and Doosan Heavy Industries, Westinghouse, and Hyundai Engineering and Construction.
Other bidders included a French consortium of Areva, Total, GDF Suez, and another consortium of General Electric and Hitachi.
The nuclear programme of the UAE was funded and led by Abu Dhabi. The UAE has said that it will refrain from any domestic enrichment or reprocessing technologies that can lead to nuclear weapons capability. Many other Middle Eastern states have also expressed interest to set up civilian nuclear power plants for meeting the power demand in the future.
