Ramokgopa wants to expand South Africa’s nuclear programme

Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa wants to revive South Africa’s nuclear build programme to improve the country’s energy outlook.

Speaking to the SABC after attending a G20 Energy Transitions meeting in Cape Town, Ramokgopa said the future of nuclear power is likely to be small modular reactors (SMRs).

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), modular reactors are cheaper, quicker to build, and easier to transport. They also have one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors.

Ramokgopa on advantages of nuclear energy

South Africa has three active nuclear reactors – two at Koeberg, which are used for nuclear power, and one at the Pelindaba nuclear research centre.

Ramokgopa said the International Energy Agency (IEA) advises that the world needs to double its nuclear capacity to provide energy in a more sustainable manner.

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He said there are two advantages of nuclear energy – it’s reliable and clean.

“We’ll build this technology over time. Unfortunately, we abandoned our pebble bed modular reactor, which was a first-generation of SMR technology.”

The electricity minister said South Africa now needs to catch up with other countries that advanced their nuclear technologies.  

“The Chinese, the French, the Americans, the South Koreans and the Russians have moved far ahead when in fact, in some instances, we were ahead of them.”

Ramokgopa said South Africa can still collaborate with these countries to “ensure that nuclear power anchors the energy requirements for the country and we are able to achieve energy security”.

Watch: Ramokgopa on expanding SA’s nuclear programme

He told the SABC that his department will ask Cabinet to lift South Africa’ pebble bed modular reactor from maintenance.

He also said his department will get help from the IAEA to get advice on the “pace and scale” of reviving the country’s nuclear build programme.

Cost of nuclear energy

Though he admitted nuclear reactors are expensive to set up, Ramokgopa said there are benefits in the long run. The electricity minister said the cheapest electricity produced by Eskom’s entire fleet comes from Koeberg.

“Over the lifecycle of the nuclear power plant, it works out to be cheaper.”

He added that producing nuclear reactors is expensive, but this can be reduced by using SMRs.

Plans to build new nuclear power stations

In December, government invited bids to build new nuclear power stations in South Africa.

The move was, however, criticised by the DA, which said the government’s preferred partner was Russia’s state-owned nuclear agency Rosatom.

A previous nuclear deal with Rosatom was declared illegal and unconstitutional by the Cape Town High Court in 2017. The deal, signed during Jacob Zuma’s presidency, was reported to be shrouded in secrecy and alleged to involve large-scale corruption.

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