South Africa moves ahead with nuclear new build plans
24 March 2015
The government is making progress on its nuclear new build programme, and is in
discussions with various prospective nuclear vendor countries to expand the
programme.
It had held consultations with a number of nuclear vendor countries recently,
namely the United States, Republic of Korea, Russia, France, Japan and China, the
Department of Energy said on 23 March. They all make use of pressurised water
reactor nuclear technology, similar to that used at the Koeberg nuclear power plant
in the Western Cape. South Africa has been safely using this technology for the past
30 years.
"The National Development Plan enjoins us to do thorough investigations on various
aspects of the nuclear power generation programme before a procurement decision
is taken," said the department. "Nuclear vendor parade workshops form part of the
government technical investigation in preparation for a procurement decision."
As part of the
pre-procurement phase and preparation for the roll out of the nuclear
new build programme, the government has entered into several negotiations with
vendor countries and has signed inter-governmental framework agreements (IGFAs)
with Russia, France and China. An IGFA is a requirement for countries to participate
in nuclear vendor parade workshops.
The nuclear new build programme is part of a sustainable energy mix that South
Africa is pursuing to ensure energy security. The government aims to add 9 600
megawatts of nuclear energy to the national electricity grid.
In its statement yesterday, the Department of Energy said that IGFAs with Canada
and Japan were at an advanced stage of completion and were expected to be
concluded soon. It had also signed similar agreements with the US and South
Korea.
Parallel to this work and as part of the preparatory phase, the department has been
conducting nuclear vendor parade workshops with all the vendor
countries that are
ready and have accepted the invitation to participate. The workshops, where vendor
countries present their nuclear technology offerings, are set up for those nations to
showcase and demonstrate their capabilities on how, if chosen, they plan to meet
South Africa’s needs.
In essence, they help South Africa to make its procurement decisions.
The first workshop was held during the week of 20 October 2014 with the Russian
Federation. The second was held with France, People’s Republic of China, Republic
of Korea and United States from 16 to 25 November 2014.
"[The] government has scheduled the third and final workshop with Canada and
Japan to take place during the last week of March 2015," said the department.
As with the first two workshops, officials from various state departments will
attend. They will include representatives from state-owned enterprises that are
engaged in energy matters as well as academics involved in
nuclear and
engineering programmes.
"[The] government remains committed to ensuring energy security for the country
through the roll out of the nuclear new build programme as an integral part of the
energy mix. [It] remains committed to ensuring the provision of reliable and
sustainable electricity supply, as part of mitigating the risk of carbon emissions,"
the department said.
The nuclear new build programme would enable the country to create jobs, develop
skills, create industries and catapult South Africa into a knowledge economy. In
addition, the government was committed to a procurement process that was "in line
with the country's legislation and policies".
Source: SAnews.gov
Koeberg Power Station, seen from behind the transmission pylons. (Image: Wikimedia Commons: Idyllic Press)
