Parliament - A decade and more than R9bn after starting, government on Thursday pronounced South Africa's attempts to research and build a pebble bed nuclear reactor officially dead.
Speaking in the National Assembly, Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan told MPs that after "careful consideration", government was pulling the plug on its Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) project.
There would be no more government investment in the project, and PBMR (Pty) Ltd, stablished in 1999, would now be "drastically reduced to a handful of people, with the focus being on the retention of intellectual property, and of certain skills and the preservation of its assets".
Hogan's announcement was hailed by several opposition party MPs, who described the project as having been a gross waste of taxpayers' money.
"All I can say today is vindication, vindication, vindication!"
Independent Democrats MP Lance Greyling said in response.
"R9bn worth of taxpayers' money has been thrown at this project, even though it was clear from the international panel of economists, way back in 1999, that it would never be economically viable."
He called for an independent forensic audit of the project "so that we can know the full extent of wastage that occurred on this wasteful project".
The Democratic Alliance's Pieter van Dalen said the PBMR could be labelled "fruitless and wasteful expenditure", and the money better spent on building RDP houses.
In her statement to the House, Hogan said over R9bn was spent on the country's efforts to build a so-called fourth-generation nuclear reactor.
"A total of R9.244bn has been invested over the past decade, with the South African government having contributed...approximately R7bn, or 80.3%."
State-owned electricity utility Eskom had contributed 8.8%, and the Industrial Development Corporation 4.9% of the total.
Reasons for government's final decision to halt the project included that the PBMR had not been able to secure an "anchor customer", or another investment partner.
Further investment in the project would require "well in excess of an additional R30bn".
Also, should South Africa embark on a nuclear-build programme in the near future, it would not be using pebble bed technology.
"The severity of the current economic downturn, and the strains it has placed on the fiscus... has forced government to reprioritise its spending obligations and... make certain tough decisions. This being one of them,' Hogan said.
The PBMR's remaining staff would be retrenched, and the company's assets either decommissioned or mothballed.
"The fuel development laboratory on the NECSA [SA Nuclear Energy Corporation] premises will be decommissioned... and the helium test facility... will be mothballed," Hogan said.