NATIONAL NEWS - Government will soon make an announcement on plans to expand South Africa’s foray into nuclear energy.

This according to Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, who delivered the opening address at the G20 Nuclear Energy Ministerial Conference held in Durban.

“[We] will be making big announcements next week, post-Cabinet. We are close to that. Our ambition is to build a new job program [of] at least initially the size of 5000 megawatts, and we think that we can derive the benefits of industrialisation and ensuring that there is exponential increase of the skills that are required to support that build program.

“Necsa [South African Nuclear Energy Corporation] is a big part of the conversation. As we know, we are running a 60-year-old research reactor. We are looking for suitors or partners to help us to take it to another level. We have seen that there is an insatiable appetite from across the globe to partner and work with us,” he said.

The Minister highlighted that small modular reactors [SMR] present a “pristine opportunity” for expansion going into the future.

“They are rapid deployment and the fact that they can be the production can be standardised, and therefore, reducing the long lead times. But most importantly, is to power the requirements of the artificial intelligence complex. 

“I think the prospect of locating data centres across various geographies is something that is particularly attractive, and we think that small modulary actors will help us,” he said.

Turning to the African continent, the Minister noted that the continent is an important producer of uranium – used for nuclear reactors – at 14% of global production with further untapped reserves.

Countries including Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana are either building, planning for, or considering nuclear power as a source of power.

“Africa’s time is now and given them huge endowments that we have, especially on uranium. Energy demand is going to grow exponentially on the continent as people experience upward social and economic mobility, as we bring people out of poverty and I think, nuclear to power is going to be a big part of the African story.

“A long-term view must be such that we are able to build infrastructure that will be a precondition for such enrichment to happen on the continent. We possess all the necessary apparatus that is required for us to participate meaningfully in the nuclear fuel cycle,” Ramokgopa said. – SAnews.gov.za

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