NGOs get advice on resisting nuclear plant in Cape

Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) spent the weekend seeking legal advice on how to appeal or stop Eskom from acting on the approval it got from the Department of Environmental Affairs for a nuclear facility at Duynefontein near Cape Town.

Eskom wants to add 9,600MW of nuclear capacity to help wean the economy off coal in what could be one of the world’s biggest nuclear contracts in decades.

SA’s nuclear energy policy has been mired in uncertainty. Opposition parties, energy experts and NGOs are mostly worried about the cost factor. Some also claim the process has been predetermined to benefit Russian firm Rosatom.

Earlier in 2017 the High Court in Cape Town ruled a nuclear ministerial determination was invalid as the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) did not do the requisite public hearings.

Energy analyst Chris Yelland said the approval was just one of many steps that must be taken before Eskom could act on it.

These steps include a ministerial determination, approval by the Treasury and approval by Nersa after extensive public hearings on the matter.

“This is for the Duynefontein site and not yet one for the Eastern Cape site. To make sure you get approval, you must do spadework and that can’t begin at just any time. With it, it doesn’t mean it will go ahead; and without it, then it cannot go ahead,” said Yelland.

He said that while it could take up to three months for Nersa to hold public hearings into the matter, Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi would have to ensure that the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) was finalised, with nuclear taken into due account. “My view is the minister cannot issue a ministerial determination until the IRP for electricity is finalised.”

Liziwe McDaid of the SA Faith Communities’ Environment Institute said: “The approval is for 10 years and this is also problematic because the rationale that the department gave for nuclear is that more power is needed and that it is in the IRP.

“But the draft IRP didn’t have nuclear for years and we have surplus electricity. There is a consensus we can’t go into more debt for nuclear power.”