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Johannesburg - Areva, the world's biggest builder of nuclear power stations, says it expects government to make an announcement during the course of this year regarding construction of a second nuclear power station in South Africa.
On Thursday the chairperson of Areva in South Africa, Mohamed Madhi, told an information session that the company had recently experienced considerable interest from government.
He expected the announcement could be made as early as June, but certainly before the end of the year.
He said that there was an perception that South Africa had a choice between coal-fired power stations and nuclear power, but environmental conditions and the demand for electricity made the construction of further nuclear power stations unavoidable for the country.
Areva has done economic simulations of the relation between economic growth and the demand for electricity in South Africa.
At a growth rate of only 1% a year, by 2017 the country will experience many more power failures than in 2008. These will also be more frequent.
Madhi reckons it takes about eight years to build a nuclear power station.
- Sake24.com
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