South Africa utility Eskom has terminated its request for information (RFI) relating to its 9600MWe nuclear energy new build procurement programme. Eskom’s chief nuclear officer David Nicholls said on Twitter on 4 May, "To put the issue to rest I want to confirm that Eskom has terminated the Nuclear RFI." The announcement followed a ruling by the Western Cape High Court on 26 April setting aside the country's nuclear procurement plans.
However, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said on 3 May that it was still committed to taking part in a transparent and competitive bidding process to build NPPs in South Africa. South Africa's Energy Minister said on 2 May that the government may appeal against the judgment which declared a cooperation agreement with Rosatom to be unlawful. The agreement was criticised environmental groups, which accused the government of seeking to strike secret deals with Russia without an open bidding process. South Africa and Russia signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) in 2014 for cooperation between Rosatom and Eskom.
