13 Oct (NucNet): South Africa’s energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said utility and nuclear operator Eskom would be taking charge of South Africa’s nuclear build programme, with her department staying on as “the coordinating agent for the project, press reports said.
Ms Joemat-Pettersson told a parliamentary committee on energy that it would be a “travesty of justice” for her department to be responsible for procuring nuclear plants.
“We do not have the skills to procure nuclear,” said Ms Joemat-Pettersson. “We will continue to be the policy-setting department and the policy cocordinator of the [nuclear] programme.”
The minister told MPs that a recommendation would be made to cabinet that Eskom be designated as the procurer for a planned 9,600 MW of nuclear energy from new nuclear stations at sites in the Western and Eastern Cape.
Ms Joemat-Pettersson also used the parliamentary platform to deny reports that a deal for nuclear procurement had already been signed with Russia.
In September 2016 the Ministry of Energy said the release of the tender for the country’s proposed new nuclear power plant programme would be delayed.
The ministry said Ms Joemat-Pettersson had considered various representations for “further consultation and discussion” and had indicated that more information would be shared regarding the build-up to the procurement process.
Ms Joemat-Pettersson had decided to delay the release of the tender “until such processes have been completed” a statement said.
“The government remains fully committed to the nuclear new-build programme in terms of decisions already taken,” it said.
In April 2016 Eskom, which owns and operates the existing Koeberg nuclear station, filed two nuclear site licence applications with the country’s National Nuclear Regulator (NNR).
The applications were for the Thyspunt site in Eastern Cape and the Duynefontein site in Western Cape. The plant and technology types have not been specified, the NNR said.
