{"id":57950,"date":"2023-12-13T17:17:14","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T17:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear"},"modified":"2023-12-13T17:37:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T17:37:45","slug":"experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear","title":{"rendered":"Experts puzzled by Ramokgopa’s sudden decision to go nuclear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa\u2019s announcement that nuclear energy will be back in the energy mix indicated \u201cgreed rather than need\u201d said some experts, who questioned the affordability of nuclear energy and the timing of the minister’s announcement.<\/p>\n

Ramokgopa declared on Tuesday that the process to procure additional nuclear capacity was under way as the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) had given its go-ahead.Along with executives from the department of mineral resources and energy (DMRE), they said the process, which is to start in March 2024 by issuing a request for proposal (RFP), would procure an additional 2,500MW nuclear power.<\/p>\n

However, energy experts said it was not the cheapest option despite Ramokgopa saying otherwise.<\/p>\n

They questioned the timing of the announcement and pointed out discrepancies and unrealistic expectations tabled by Ramokgopa.<\/p>\n

Ramokgopa cagey about costs<\/p>\n

The Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute’s executive director, Francesca de Gasparis, said the announcement had left civil society in disbelief. She said it was known that nuclear energy was neither affordable nor required in the country\u2019s energy mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know electricity baseload does not need nuclear energy and, in the absence of a finalised and fully reviewed integrated resource plan (IRP2023), today\u2019s announcement by government seems to be motivated by greed, not need. During question time this morning, queries about the true costs associated with nuclear energy were met with non-answers,\u201d De Gasparis said.<\/p>\n

Earthlife Africa director Makoma Lekalakala says nuclear is not the least cost-effective option but found it odd that the announcement was not made by Nersa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something we expected to be announced by Nersa, to let us know that the DMRE had satisfied the suspensive conditions that were set, according to section 34 [of the Electricity Regulation Act]. Section 34 also mentions that any electricity generation option has to be the least-cost option and we know that nuclear is not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Koeberg Alert Alliance (KAA) said Ramokgopa\u2019s statement that nuclear was the cheapest form of energy applied only if construction and financing costs were ignored, adding that they are a significant cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is simply ridiculous to ignore. Another speaker said the expected capital cost of a new nuclear build was \u20182,100 to 7,500 per kWh\u2019. Not only did he forget to mention what currency that was in, he also apparently does not understand the difference between kWh and kW. It seems he was trying to quote the US dollar price per kW of capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Green Connection\u2019s Liziwe McDaid said Ramokgopa\u2019s announcement came after the PetroSA Gazprom deal had been revealed.<\/p>\n

It was announced on Monday that the cabinet had endorsed PetroSA\u2019s recommendation to select Russia\u2019s Gazprombank as an investment partner to reinstate PetroSA\u2019s plant and production.<\/p>\n

McDaid said this raised many questions as, for years, PetroSA has not been a concern but could be dependent on Eskom to use their diesel, which is a fossil fuel that needs to be avoided.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, this is a very tangled web that we are not happy with. And now comes an announcement of new nuclear \u2014 but there is no depth to the announcement. So why was it necessary to have a briefing today? The only answer that comes to mind is that today\u2019s announcement is meant to distract us from the PetroSA\/Gazprom deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

KAA was also puzzled by the timing of the announcement as the latest revision of the IRP2023 is about to be released for public comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo why make this announcement now? It seems there were three reasons. One is election season combined with minister Ramokgopa\u2019s desire to find something which can appear to be a positive announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond, this is an announcement of a gravy train \u2014 it does not matter if finance is found for this new nuclear build, or if it is ever actually built. There will now be millions available for various consultants and legal firms to assist with composing the RFP, processing responses, and so on.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an example, in 2016 while \u2018preparing\u2019 for the new nuclear build (which never materialised), the DMRE spent R213m on consultants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThird, it seems to be an attempt to distract the media and civil society from other goings on in the energy sector, which are frequently slipped through over the December break.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa\u2019s announcement that nuclear energy will be back in the energy mix indicated \u201cgreed rather than need\u201d said some experts, who questioned the affordability of nuclear energy and the timing of the minister’s announcement. Ramokgopa declared on Tuesday that the process to procure additional nuclear capacity was under way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":57948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-57950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nExperts puzzled by Ramokgopa's sudden decision to go nuclear - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa\u2019s announcement that nuclear energy will be back in the energy mix indicated \u201c ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Experts puzzled by Ramokgopa's sudden decision to go nuclear\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa\u2019s announcement that nuclear energy will be back in the energy mix indicated \u201c ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-13T17:17:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-13T17:37:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1702476299.765476.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"502\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Experts puzzled by Ramokgopa’s sudden decision to go nuclear\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-13T17:17:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-13T17:37:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear\"},\"wordCount\":737,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1702476299.765476.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-puzzled-by-ramokgopas-sudden-decision-to-go-nuclear\",\"name\":\"Experts puzzled by Ramokgopa's sudden decision to go nuclear - 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