Science to drive SA nuclear build

Expansion
SA puts science at heart of nuclear expansion
SAnews.gov.za
  • 29 Minutes Ago

South Africa's proposed nuclear expansion will be guided by science and evidence rather than ideological bias, the country's electricity and energy minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has said.

Ramokgopa delivered the keynote address at the South African Nuclear and Clean Energy Conference, held under the theme: “Transitioning from Policy to Execution: Powering a Secure, Sustainable and Industrialised Future”.

He confirmed that state-owned power utility Eskom had submitted its feasibility programme for a 5,200MW nuclear energy programme, in line with the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2025, which sets out plans to install additional nuclear capacity in South Africa.

“The department is preparing a proposed determination for public participation. We will put the case for additional capacity before the public and consider submissions on their merits. It should not be an in-principle objection or an obsession with one energy technology over another. It must be based on merit, and merit is anchored in science and evidence.

“Publication of the determination is a statutory trigger for procurement. The National Nuclear Regulator will exercise its independent authority over safety and licensing. The Nuclear Energy Policy designates Eskom as the owner and operator of nuclear plants and provides for Eskom to retain control under a public-private partnership,” Ramokgopa said on Tuesday.

He emphasised that the government had learnt lessons from what he described as the “sad past” of the construction programmes for the Kusile and Medupi power stations.

“It’s a template on how not to do things. We are going to learn from that and unlearn from those experiences so that this nuclear build programme is not a casualty of poor planning,” the minister said.

Ramokgopa emphasised the need to support South Africa’s economic ambitions with a reliable and sufficiently robust electricity system.

“South Africa needs enough electricity for the economy we intend to build. That means making provision for manufacturers to expand production, for new investment to connect and for households to gain access to a service they can afford.

“An economy with too little capacity pays for that shortage through higher-cost supply and through production and investment that never take place,” he said.

Skills deficit

The minister highlighted the practical challenges facing the country's nuclear construction programme, acknowledging that it had been decades since South Africa last undertook a nuclear power station construction project.

“I must admit that one of the biggest inherent risks in this programme is that we have not built a nuclear power plant in the past 50 years or so.

“There are people who have experience in building a nuclear power station. So, we don’t have them in abundance. The ones we have at Koeberg know how to run an already-built power station. So, the inherent risk is that we don't have people who have built nuclear power stations before,” Ramokgopa said.

To address these constraints, he said South Africa needed to develop a pipeline of local engineering talent with the expertise required to undertake nuclear construction.

“It will be resolved through our work with international partners to build a pipeline of engineers who are going to build a nuclear power station from scratch.

“We are going to accumulate this experience as we build the first reactor, second reactor, third reactor. You will see, in time, that we have built sufficient capacity and capability to be able to stand on our own,” he said.

Turning to Eskom’s coal-fired power station fleet, Ramokgopa said coal and nuclear energy could operate alongside one another.

“The department, working with Eskom, is reviewing the coal fleet on its own merits. Some stations may have a case for longer operation, while others will retire. Those decisions have to reflect plant conditions, costs and the applicable environmental requirements.

“The case for adding nuclear is that it is dependable, low-carbon and cost-effective. It is part of the capacity we are developing to support growth and diversify supply,” Ramokgopa said.

— SAnews.gov.za