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Govt takes over nuclear build programme

Cape Town - The Department of Energy will take over from Eskom as the lead agency implementing the country’s multibillion-dollar nuclear- reactor programme.

“Eskom has come to government and said that with its present situation it cannot handle the nuclear build programme,” Zizamele Mbambo, deputy director-general in charge of nuclear energy, told reporters in Cape Town Tuesday. “This will mean a change to government’s current policy.”

South Africa’s energy plan lists Eskom as the owner and operator of the 9 600 MW of nuclear-powered generating units that are to be built by 2030.

There is a sense of urgency about starting the nuclear build programme even as no cost estimates have been released, said Wolsey Barnard, acting director-general of the Department of Energy.

“Seven of Eskom’s coal-fired plants will be out of commission by 2023 and that would take 12 000 MW out of the national electricity grid,” he told lawmakers. The company relies on coal for about 80% of generation.

SA has held nuclear workshops with Russia, China, the US, France, South Korea, Japan and Canada on new facilities, ignoring objections from environmental activists, opposition parties, unions and even its own advisers.

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