South Africa is looking to spend up to R60bn on its nuclear build programme — including acquiring mini nuclear reactors — and will not shy away from consulting experts in countries such as Russia and China.
This is according to electricity and energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, who told Business Times he would be working to reset the country’s nuclear programme, with power generation through nuclear now a stated government policy.
“That we have been able to successfully get long-term operation extension of Koeberg’s unit 1 — 20 years of life on top of the 40 years of safe supply of nuclear power — speaks for itself. We are now going to be applying for a long-term operation extension for Koeberg’s unit 2 and are confident about the prospect of getting an extension of 20 years.”
Ramokgopa said that in the past the nuclear build programme had been “soiled” by concerns about administration and procurement. For this reason, shortly after his appointment as minister, the nuclear build programme had been paused to restore its credibility.
Ramokgopa said this week’s G20 meeting of energy ministers raised the importance of nuclear power generation in energy transitions. Under former president Jacob Zuma, South Africa had come close to entering a deal with Russia to build a nuclear plant, which was initially estimated to cost R1-trillion.
You will need upwards of R12bn for us to register the entire nuclear programme in the country. The Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa) has done preliminary studies. You will need R60bn. That money will never come from the fiscus, that much we know
— Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, electricity and energy minister
South Africa was now looking for global experts on nuclear energy to assist with the scale and affordability of the technology. He said there was never a question about the use of nuclear, but rather the credibility of the procurement process. “ The nuclear space is confined, so if we were to do a public tender tomorrow, there are [five] countries that will respond — the US, France, South Korea, China and Russia.”
The successful bidder would be one of these countries.
Ramokgopa said that while the integrated resources plan (IRP) and a cabinet policy statement would provide clarity on the nuclear build, this would need to involve at least 10GW of power for the market to see it as credible. “One of the things they are raising is that any ambition lower than 10GW of nuclear build capacity will not help you to rebuild the programme going into the future.”
He said most of the funding for the nuclear build programme wouldn’t come from the fiscus. “For us to do the multipurpose reactor, R1.2bn is a drop in the ocean. I think it’s going to help us with preliminary studies.
“You will need upwards of R12bn for us to register the entire nuclear programme in the country. The Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa) has done preliminary studies. You will need R60bn. That money will never come from the fiscus, that much we know.”
Ramokgopa said China would be seeking raw materials for nuclear fuel enrichment, and South Africa would be “flirting” with that country for several reasons. “One is that they account for 27% of the total amount of reactors under construction. Between this year and next year, they will be bringing in an additional 70GW of nuclear capacity ... And, of course, they are already our partners.”
Necsa chair Dave Nichols said nuclear economics were based on three main elements: Delivering the project on time and budget; being able to raise the finance; and the interest rate on the finance. “We have three big nuclear projects ... One is a replacement for the SAFARI-1 research reactor... [which supplies] about 20% of the world’s radio pharmaceuticals. We need to replace that in five years.
“Another is the provision of two large reactors similar to [those at] Koeberg, which will be procured by Eskom. And the third is the small modular reactor.”
Ramokgopa said South Africa would have an additional 2,500MW of power this winter compared to the previous one because Koeberg's unit 2 would be online by July, and Medupi's unit 4 was expected to be running by then.
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