A report by the McKinsey Global Institute titled "Sharpening Competitiveness: Where Investment Happens and Why" has confirmed that competitiveness is increasingly tied to countries' ability to attract productive investment and execute large-scale projects efficiently and swiftly. The report notes that the United Arab Emirates is among the most competitive locations in the world for investment in new nuclear energy projects, owing to its ability to implement these complex capital projects with high efficiency.
The report, a copy of which was obtained by Al Bayan, stated that the levelised cost of electricity from third-generation nuclear reactors in the UAE stands at $79 per megawatt-hour, compared with approximately $65 in South Korea, $154 in the United States, and $190 in France — placing the UAE among the lowest-cost countries among the economies covered by the comparison.
The report also noted that the construction period for nuclear reactor projects is 100 months in the UAE and South Korea, compared with 70 months in China, while some recent projects in Europe and the United States have taken 20 years. The report considered differences in construction timelines and building costs to be among the most significant factors affecting the competitiveness of such projects.