Eskom Group Chief Executive Dan Marokane says South Africa should “move with pace” to keep up with the global move towards new nuclear build.
Marokane was addressing stakeholders at the Nuclear Seminar. The event was held by the Ministry of Energy and Electricity on Thursday.
“We are for nuclear. And we understand that the energy mix is an important component of us achieving our strategic objectives as a country. This is not a discussion about either or. We’ve always argued that it is about the use of [energy] technologies to be complimentary.
“We are looking forward to participating in the process that will be led by the Minister [of Energy and Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa] to show that we can get to a point of making decisions very quickly. And we cannot afford to wait any longer. We have fallen behind and we have an opportunity to catch up and we need to move with pace,” he said.
SA has fallen behind and has an opportunity to catch up
Marokane emphasised that it is very important that government has a clear stance on the use of nuclear energy. This in the country’s ambitions to lower carbon emissions.
“What I would like to appreciate is the very clear government perspective on the strategy of nuclear. Also where it sits on the energy mix and its importance for us marching towards net zero targets.
“We exist within the global community. And clearly there’ve been movements within the world … The world around has reawakened to the reality that [nuclear] is essentially an important component. It is a vital component of baseload power generation going forward. And for us reducing emissions going forward.
“We have heard about the ambitions for nuclear on the continent. Egypt being quite advanced in this area. It would be sad of us to be overtaken, having had so many years of operation… This both from a perspective of skills and technical contribution to the continent and opportunities,” he said.
Spin-offs from using nuclear energy are huge
Marokane highlighted that the economic spinoffs from using nuclear energy are “quite huge”.
“For us as a country that is emerging out of the history that it has, the social inequalities that it has, this is an element that is going to contribute meaningfully for us. Our presence in the Western Cape has contributed immensely to the economic activities in the value chain.
“We have experienced quite tremendous positive spin-offs from a green stability point of view. This with the Koeberg [Nuclear Power Station] units that are contributing …into the system. We have just…[installed] new steam generators so that we can have a life extension for the next 20 years.
“We will continue to look at the opportunities for exploiting this for even longer,” Marokane said.
- SAnews.gov.za
