ELECTRICITY and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa yesterday restamped nuclear as part of the energy mix with the 2 500MW nuclear procurement process back on track after cleaning up legal loopholes.
Ramokgopa also punted the idea of small modular reactors (SMRs) as part of strategy, which could have negated the need for the building of 14 000km of electricity transmission lines.
Addressing a Nuclear Seminar aimed at unpacking the role of nuclear as a part of the mix, Ramokgopa extolled the country’s nuclear intellectuals to take the lead in demystifying the technology for which the country had an at least 76 year lead.
South Africa has been directly operating the Koeberg nuclear power plant for 40 years, and could now be exporting the technology and expertise to the continent, with Egypt and Kenya in advanced procurement plans.
“We will announce in the next week or so how we will do that exercise. Nuclear is part of the energy mix. Nuclear is in the future. It is indispensable in the attainment of energy sovereignty,” Ramakgopa said.
He said the process had been withdrawn because of contamination, which could have drawn legal challenges and would now be presented in a democratic approach through gazetting in the next three months.
Ramokgopa said the government would answer the question of the scale and cost of nuclear build, and would consider a scale and pace that would not undermine affordability or compromise the fiscus.
“If there are complexities or the process of the 2 500MW build programme was compromised and on our own version, having objectively studied the process, realise it has been compromised, we have a duty to pull it back, to clean it, so that you don’t conflate the science and the process,” he said.
“When you misstep the process you are inviting legal practitioners to enter the domain of science, so we are keeping them out. We are cleaning the process and then on the basis of the science we will be able to tell a compelling story to the South African people.”
Ramokgopa said Eskom’s newfound efficiency with an energy availability factor hovering above 70% had changed the assumptions of the Integrated Resource Plan, which now was being reviewed to factor new assumptions accounting for the matrix.
Princess Mthombeni, a nuclear energy advocate, said she read confidence in the room from various speakers - including Eskom CEO Dan Marokane, Nersa chairperson Thembani Bukula and the Department of Electricity and Energy’s deputy director-general for nuclear, Zizamele Mbambo.
“There is confidence across the room. All the various speakers on different technical aspects of nuclear have indicated that the country is ready to move forward with nuclear. There are enough skills and resources,” Mthombeni said.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi said South Africa had set a good example for other African countries who were now at various stages of developing nuclear energy programmes, particularly SMRs.
He said the IAEA was helping Algeria, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Ghana, Uganda, Niger, Morocco, Kenya and Zambia, all of which were in various stages of nuclear decisions and procurement.
Peter Becker, an anti-nuclear activist and former board member of the National Nuclear Regulator, took umbrage at Ramakgopa suggesting the compilation of “an idiot's guide to nuclear”.
Becker said Ramokgopa’s comments dismissed academics such as the UCT Energy Systems Research group and Meridian Economics, who have done detailed studies which contradict the minister’s statements about the essential role of nuclear power in South Africa.
“The minister said we should look at Koeberg, not other countries, to see what nuclear power really costs. This is difficult while Eskom continues to keep secret the actual total cost of all the refurbishment work being done at Koeberg,” Becker said.
“In terms of time overruns of nuclear projects, the repeated pushing forward of the completion date for the work there does give a good idea what to expect from nuclear projects.”
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