Request for nuclear build proposals expected soon

The Department of Energy is this week expected to issue a request for proposals for the nuclear build programme, which will add 9 600 megawatts to the national electricity grid. The department earlier this month said it planned to issue a request for proposals before the end of this month. Director-general Thabane Zulu said it was in discussions with the Treasury about the cost of the fleet of nuclear power stations. He also said that responses to the request for proposals would give an indication of a possible funding model for the programme. This was the latest major announcement about the country’s closely-watched nuclear programme. In December, the department confirmed that the cabinet had given it the green light to request proposals. Kelvin Kemm, the chief executive of Nuclear Africa, a nuclear project management company, on Thursday said South Africa had to proceed with the nuclear programme as the country needed reliable baseload power. “At the moment the country relies on coal. We need a lot of reliable baseload electricity and wind and solar power are not going to give us that,” Kemm said.

However, the nuclear programme has run into stiff opposition from anti-nuclear lobby groups. It has been criticised mainly on safety grounds. Its costs are also believed to be astronomical. At one stage, it was estimated that it would cost about R1 trillion. Responses to the request for proposals will give an indication of the cost of the programme. But Kemm insists that nuclear is a cost-effective, low-carbon source of electricity. “As scientists, we think the programme will cost R650 billion over 10 years. That is R650bn to build three nuclear power stations, each with two or three reactors. Koeberg nuclear power station was built by South Africans, on budget and on time. The same can happen with this nuclear programme. “There is this belief that the programme will be built by foreigners only,” he said. Eskom, which will own and operate the new nuclear plants, is also proceeding with regulatory preparations for the earmarked sites for the plants.

The utility earlier this month submitted applications to the National Nuclear Regulator to build nuclear plants in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape. The regulator said Eskom wanted to build the reactors in the Thyspunt site, situated between Oyster Bay and St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape and Duynefontein, which is situated next to Eskom’s existing nuclear plant in Koeberg in the Western Cape. At the same time, the Department of Environmental Affairs was considering Eskom’s environmental impact assessment reports for the possible sites, spokesman Albi Modise confirmed on Thursday. “Should any of the sites meet the requirements, we will announce that,” Modise said. Kemm said approval from the Environmental Affairs Department would also pave the way for civil works to commence at the sites even if the tender had not been issued yet. Speaking at an energy conference earlier this month, energy analyst Andrew Kenny said construction of the two units at Thyspunt – Eskom’s preferred site – was likely to start in two years with the first unit coming on stream about seven years after that.