South African nuclear power plant welcomes replacement steam generator. South Africa is the only country in Africa to have a civil nuclear programme, with two reactors at the Koeberg power plant, in service for more than 30 years. Located near Cape Town, Koeberg nuclear power plant is the only commercial nuclear power plant in South Africa. Facebook. In due course, nuclear could be an energy source for much of Africa, where only South Africa currently has a nuclear power plant. But enriching uranium hinges on South Africa building nuclear power plants. The site is located next to the existing Koeberg nuclear power station. By 2030, there are plans to increase nuclear capacity by 9600 MWe, which will expand the current nuclear share beyond 5% in the future. In May 2020 South Africa’s Director of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe told the nation’s legislative body that his agency is developing a road map for 2,500MW of nuclear-powered generating capacity with the procurement process completed by 2024. The IRP proposes extending its lifetime to 2044, and the government is currently in talks with Eskom to achieve this. Currently, the plant uses two pressurised water reactors, which can generate nearly 1.94GW of electricity. 2021-02-05. New nuclear build in South Africa advances a step further as the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has granted Eskom permission to proceed with the nuclear installation at Duynefontein in the Western Cape. Twitter. Rather, the focus should be on the construction of renewable generation infrastructure such as wind and solar farms, as they are infinitely more environmentally friendly and will benefit the country for years to come. Nuclear associations of South Africa demand construction new plants. South Africa’s only nuclear power station, Koeberg, will reach the end of its life in 2024. He says South Africa must plan for a new nuclear plant to come on line after 2045. Woman jailed for 8 years term for stealing baby in Lesotho . South Africa's state power provider Eskom will implement scheduled power blackouts on Wednesday, after a shutdown of its nuclear power plant prompted by a … South Africa’s nuclear professional associations have issued a general call to reboot the local nuclear industry. Although no new nuclear capacity is planned before 2030, the report says that consideration must be given to developing a future nuclear programme. The South African plan is to allow vendors to self-finance … Koeborg's two reactors are shown in Fig. Large chunks of new power aren’t needed. South Africa is considering the construction of three nuclear power stations on its coastline despite objections from environmentalists. Sep 21, 2020. 1. Nuclear power plants will be expensive, pose significant environmental risks, and will not solve South Africa’s short-term electricity crisis. Koeberg nuclear power station is a nuclear power station in South Africa.It is currently the only one on the entire African continent. Areva increased its involvement with the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa) and was joined by Rosatom in 2013 who declared its interest in bidding. In a statement, Eskom said it had to shut down unit 1 of its Koeberg station, the only nuclear power plant in Africa, and another unit, earlier than planned. The South African government subsequently developed a nuclear deterrence plan which consisted of three phases: 1) deny the existence of the nuclear program; 2) if threatened, give a covert acknowledgement of possessing nuclear weapons, perhaps to the United States; and 3) if these steps fail to mitigate the threat, offer a public demonstration, like a nuclear test. Safety concerns are growing over the Koeberg nuclear power plant after Cape Town was hit by a third earthquake in less than two months early on Tuesday. South Africa has surplus energy capacity. Until then, the country’s only nuclear plant at Koeberg, outside Cape Town, will have its life extended. Power consumption in South Africa was not climbing fast enough to justify considering nuclear energy as a future option. JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's state power provider Eskom will implement scheduled power blackouts on Wednesday, after a shutdown of its nuclear power plant prompted by a rising leak rate in one of its steam generators. As of 2017, the Koeborg nuclear power plant accounted for approximately 5% of South Africa's energy supply.