South African Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is planning to secure funding approval for a 2,500 MWe NPP to increase electricity supply, according to a report in South Africa’s Sunday Times. Ramokgopa told the newspaper that work has reached an advanced stage, and a team is working on a deal and finalising the procurement structure for the project. He said he hopes the National Treasury will sign off on the plan by next month. A site is yet to be confirmed and various technical details are still being ironed out.
The latest nuclear technology “is very rapid to deploy, relatively cheaper and more efficient”, Ramokgopa said. “The procurement structure will require National Treasury’s approvals on the financing … You can imagine the magnitude of that deal. There’s the latest (nuclear) technology that is very rapid to deploy, relatively cheap and more efficient. We must resolve the issues of who will operate the plant, but I think I can say before we even conclude (it) that it will be [state power company] Eskom.”
The plan was first outlined by Ramokgopa in December 2023. He said then that South Africa intended to launch a bidding process for an extra 2,500 MWe of nuclear power by March 2024 after getting approval from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa). The three “suspensive conditions” that needed to be met included the need to “establish rationality” for the 2,500 MWe by preparing a demand analysis to determine a load profile and for the nuclear technology to be “procured through an engineering procurement & construction contract”. The Department of Mineral Resources & Energy (DMRE) had submitted a report to Nersa in July 2023 addressing these conditions and Ramokgopa said Nersa had concluded that those conditions had been satisfactorily addressed.
However, Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Kevin Mileham, the party’s spokesperson on energy and electricity, expressed concern about the plan. The DA is part of the Government of National Unity alongside the African National Congress (ANC), which lost its majority in the recent elections and various other parties. Tension between the DA and ANC has been growing.
“The DA is currently challenging the decision by Nersa to concur with the procurement of 2 500MW of new nuclear power on the grounds of procedural irregularity and irrationality,” Mileham said in a policy statement. He added: “Founding and supplementary affidavits have been tabled before the Gauteng division of the high court. Nuclear power remains a key component of South Africa’s electricity generation mix for the foreseeable future. It demands, however, compliance with all regulatory and safety requirements, and needs to demonstrate affordability.”
He said the DA demanded that Ramokgopa immediately review the ministerial determination to procure new nuclear power and take the appropriate steps to rectify the non-compliance. Mileham said Ramokgopa, Mineral & Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe, former Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, President Cyril Ramaphosa, Eskom and Nersa are respondents in the matter before the Gauteng division of the high court, which has been scheduled for 15-16 October.
The statement said the documentation received from the various parties thus far “indicates that little new information was provided to Nersa to enable it to make a considered decision in August 2023, with regard to the suspensive conditions it issued in August 2021 for concurrence with the determination to procure the 2500MW of new nuclear power made by Gwede Mantashe”. These conditions included a detailed cost and demand analysis. Instead, Nersa appears to have relied on the original information provided in 2021.
It continued: It is worth noting that the intervening period of two years between the original Nersa ruling (with suspensive conditions) and the final concurrence in August 2023 would have necessitated further public consultations on the need and desirability of nuclear power. These did not occur. Furthermore, Nersa directed (in August 2021) that the determination include the requirement that procurement occur under an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model. This was ignored in the final determination gazetted in 2023.”
The statement concluded: “Nuclear power remains a key component of South Africa’s electricity generation mix for the foreseeable future. It demands, however, compliance with all regulatory and safety requirements, and needs to demonstrate affordability. The government has failed to show either the cost or electricity demand analysis required of it to make this determination. The Democratic Alliance demands that Minister Ramokgopa immediately review the ministerial determination to procure new nuclear power and take the appropriate steps to rectify the non-compliance, failing which our legal challenge on procedural and rationality grounds will proceed.”
In response to the DA’s objection, Ramokgopa said: “The DA has the right to challenge the government’s plan to procure 2 500 megawatts of nuclear power. Although the nuclear plan requires approval from the National Treasury, it is not going away.”
The Mercury cited Craig Morkel, Chairperson of the Gas Economy Leadership Team at SA Oil & Gas Alliance, as saying that nuclear power is a cleaner option compared with coal-fired power. “However, we need to be more informed on the process. The first thing we need to be made clear to us is the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2019, and if it is a guide or a requirement for the procurement. If it is a guide then we have no issues with the government’s procurement process to build the nuclear power plant.”
Ramokgopa said in December 2023 that the IRP 2023 was due to be published “very soon” but noted that the 2 500 MWe of nuclear energy had already been decided in the IRP 2019 and was also included in IRP 2023.
Morkel added that clarity was also needed on the technology to be used for the nuclear plant. “These are in two categories: small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) and light-water reactors. This needs to be made clear, which one will be used and where it will be sourced from.”
According to The Mercury, Professor Wikus van Niekerk, dean of engineering at Stellenbosch University, said he did not think the NPP would be built. “The National Treasury does not have the funds to build a nuclear plant and I can’t see them approving this. They’ll have to pay other countries millions to build a nuclear plant. And remember, it’s a long-term project, so I can’t see it happening.”
