- Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has restamped nuclear as part of its energy mix, and the two 500MW nuclear procurement processes are back on track.
- Ramokgopa said the government would answer the question of the scale and cost of nuclear construction and consider a scale and pace that would not undermine affordability or compromise the fiscus.
South Africa Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has restamped nuclear as part of the energy mix, with the 2 500MW nuclear procurement process revived after cleaning up legal loopholes.
Ramokgopa also proposed the idea of small modular reactors (SMRs) as part of the strategy, which could have negated the need to build 14,000 km of electricity transmission lines.
While 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 export 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He said the process had been withdrawn because of contamination, which could have led to legal challenges. It will now be presented through gazetting in the next three months using a democratic approach.
Ramokgopa said the government would answer the question of the scale and cost of nuclear construction and 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 invite legal practitioners to enter the domain of science, so we keep 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 per cent had changed the Integrated Resource Plan’s assumptions, which was now 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 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.