The United Arab Emirates(UAE) has approved operation of the first of four nuclear reactors South Korea has been building in the Middle East country. 

Hamad al-Kaabi, the UAE representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), announced the move in a press conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday. He said the No. 1 reactor at the Barakah nuclear power plant will begin commercial operation in the near future. 

The official noted it will be the first nuclear reactor to go online in the Arab world, and hailed the endorsement as a “historic moment” for his country. 

The Barakah project is being carried out by a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation(KEPCO), 270 kilometers west from Abu Dhabi, and aims to build four advanced pressurized water reactors with an output of one-thousand-400 megawatts. 

KEPCO won the project in December 2009 and launched construction in July 2012.