SA signs nuclear deal with Russia’s Rosatom

By Evan Pickworth

SA signed an agreement with state-owned Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom on Monday for it to build up to eight nuclear power plants.

SA’s government wants to reduce the country’s reliance on coal for its energy needs and its Integrated Resources Plan envisages generating about 9‚600 megawatts of nuclear energy‚ which would equate to six to eight nuclear plants.

The agreement refers to up to eight units using Russian VVER reactors. These will be the first nuclear power plants based on the Russian technology to be built on the African continent.

Costs for the programme have been estimated to be as high as R1-trillion‚ raising concerns taxpayers will have to foot the bill‚ as government cannot afford it. The release from Russia on Monday did not mention costs.

The agreement provides for comprehensive collaboration in other areas of the nuclear power industry‚ including construction of a Russian-technology-based multipurpose research reactor‚ assistance in the development of South-African nuclear infrastructure‚ education of South African nuclear specialists in Russian universities and other areas.

“South Africa today‚ as never before‚ is interested in massive development of nuclear power‚ which is an important driver for the national economy growth. I am sure that cooperation with Russia will allow us to implement our ambitious plans for the creation by 2030 of 9.6 GW of new nuclear capacities based on modern and safe technologies. This agreement opens up the door for SA to access Russian technologies‚ funding‚ infrastructure‚ and provides (a) proper and solid platform for future extensive collaboration‚” said Minister of Energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson.

Rosatom’s director general Sergey Kirienko said that “from the very start” this cooperation would be guided at providing the conditions for the creation of “thousands of new jobs” and placing “a considerable order to local industrial enterprises worth at least $10bn”.

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