10 Apr (NucNet): South Africa’s plans to expand its nuclear fleet with up to 9,600 MW of new generation capacity will move forward in June when state utility Eskom issues a request for proposals, or RFP, from companies bidding for the project, local press reports said on 9 April 2017.
An Eskom spokesman was quoted as saying nothing has been decided and the dates “were suggestive dates”. However, the spokesman said if everything goes well “we will issue a request for proposals around June”.
The company’s chief nuclear officer David Nicholls said in an interview published on the Eskom website that the target is to publish the RFP by mid-2017 with evaluation of proposals by the end of 2017.
South Africa’s finance minister Malusi Gigaba said last week that no decision has been taken on nuclear new-build plans other than “we will have 9,600 megawatts of [nuclear] generation capacity”.
Eskom, which operates South Africa’s only commercial nuclear station at Koeberg, recently said it has given itself the internal target that for new nuclear to make sense, the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) from the project must be between $60 and $80 (€56 and €75) per MWh for the first two reactor units.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has put the LCOE for the construction of new nuclear power plants in a range from $40 to $100 per MWh.
