Nuclear energy in South Africa
23 December 2004
South Africa's rapidly dwindling coal reserves mean the country may need a source of cleaner, better energy by as early as 2008. It's a challenge everyone is taking seriously. But what exactly is in the pipeline?
The government insists that nuclear power could play a crucial role in South Africa's future energy mix. "We do not have oil and gas, so we cannot avoid nuclear energy", Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told Parliament earlier this month when she introduced her department's annual budget speech.
Although South Africa's coal reserves are vast - they are measured in billions of tons - fossil fuels do not last forever, and South Africa's are rapidly depleting.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said the use of nuclear power in South Africa would increase energy diversity and security of supply, and reduce energy-related emission levels because it is a cleaner-burning fuel.
As a result, the government is backing a demonstration
nuclear plant - a pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) - at Koeberg outside Cape Town. The pebble bed nuclear reactor is considered one of the most efficient forms of nuclear power technology: smaller, cleaner, and easier to build than most others.
A private partner is currently been sought for the US$1.2-billion cash injection needed to get the site up and running, as well as to finance a fuel plant at Pelindaba, west of Pretoria, in Gauteng.
South Africa's interest in nuclear power is part of a growing, albeit tentative, international trend, and comes amid forecasts that the global demand for energy will double in the next 25-30 years. More and more governments are now exploring the possibility of nuclear energy for the first time since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
About 75% of France's power is nuclear, and, according to the Business Day, it now boasts Western Europe's cheapest electricity retail prices and is the biggest net exporter of electricity. In the US
earlier this year, a consortium led by US power giant General Electric and Japan's Toshiba asked the US energy department for permission to conduct a feasibility study to construct advanced nuclear reactors.
Troubled history
Speaking in Parliament, Mlambo-Ngcuka indicated that the future of the country's energy would involve private-sector involvement in the construction of power stations and nuclear power facilities.
As optimistic as this may sound, it does reflect a fall-out with the project's previous investors. According to Business Day, the reactor's current investors - electricity parastatal Eskom and the Industrial Development Corporation - have to date failed to secure a credible and stable international partner who is prepared to stick around.
Business Day says existing investor British Nuclear Fuels faces big financial challenges - and the previous backer, US energy group Exelon, pulled out two years ago.
Coupled
with this are objections to the government's nuclear programme from environmental lobbyists. Although the environment affairs department officially approved an environmental impact assessment last year, it is still considering appeals to the proposed development.
Challenges to the programme include the dangers of a meltdown - a possibility which proponents insist is unlikely. Questions also remain unanswered on the disposal of radioactive waste. With Koeberg's nuclear waste already an issue, environmentalists argue that South Africa should not produce more.
Objections also revolve around the rocky investor relations in the project. Many believe that the money would be better spent developing alternative energy sources to nuclear power.
The way forward
While talks are currently under way to find international partnerships for the billion-dollar cash injection needed for the Koeberg project, Business Day reports that a PBMR corporation
has been formed to oversee the commercialisation of the pilot reactor.
The corporation comprises Eskom (30%), the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation (25%) and British Nuclear Fuel Limited (22.5%). The paper reports that a 10% stake has been earmarked for a black empowerment partner and the remaining 12.5% for a foreign partner.
Mlambo-Ngcuka says the Cabinet has endorsed a five-year to 10-year plan for the project in order to grow a critical research and skills base - and a sustainable nuclear industry in South Africa.
According to Eskom, the pilot project has been in development for 10 years already. Although it aims to instil confidence in the viability of the reactor, a commercially viable model may only be ready in another 10 years' time.
A final decision on the environmental impact assessment is expected within months. Lobbyists suggest they may consider Constitutional Court action against the programme, should other avenues for objection
fail.
The government has cautioned that the potential for nuclear power should not be oversold at this stage. According to Business Report, the chief director for nuclear energy at the department of minerals and energy, Tseliso Maqabela, said that nuclear research and development takes time and is costly.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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