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Cape Town - The cost to build three nuclear power plants with two reactors each should be between R300bn and R400bn and not the R1 trillion reported, said Rob Adam, CEO of the Nuclear Energy Corporation of SA (Necsa) on Tuesday.
Answering questions during the presentation of the corporation's annual report to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Energy, Adam pushed the idea that nuclear power is the cleanest and most cost effective form of energy.
"If you take the simple arithmetics, a 1 600 MW nuclear reactor would cost around R50bn and so the total cost of the programme would not amount to more than R400bn at the top," he said.
The department of energy's integrated resource plan that aims to build the country's power generation over the next 20 to 30 years proposes the build of three new nuclear power stations with two 1 600 MW generators each.
However, no firm plans have been disclosed about the details of the proposed nuclear build programme.
"The economics of a nuclear power plant are also very simple," Adam said. "One pays for it over 20 to 30 years and then it has a lifespan of between 40 to 60 years. The electricity can be sold for a long time after it has been paid off. There is a reason why Koeberg is Eskom's cash cow."
In answer to a question from MPs about Necsa being consulted on the nuclear build programme, Adam said it had not but that this was understandable.
"It is human nature to believe that one has not been consulted as much as one should have, and we have been partly consulted. However, the information around the programme is being quite closely guarded within government," he said.
Adam said nuclear is still the best way to increase the country's power generation while trying to reduce carbon emissions.
Referring to Germany's recent announcement to phase out its nuclear power stations, Adam said it would not meet its carbon reduction targets without nuclear power.
