Nuclear power station poses challenges

Things are being kept out of the public’s eye, writes of Olivedale.

Isaac Mashaba has taken cognisance of a very serious issue regarding the failure of Eskom and the resultant next big opportunity for those in the loop to enrich themselves through the construction of yet another nuclear power station.

He asks, quite rightly, who do we actually still have left to run such a dangerous plant, and he asks who will our partner be?

This last question demonstrates that his preoccupation with corruption has left him not seeing the forest for the trees.

It was made clear previously that the partner to this venture would be Rusatom – the Russian nuclear agency. It’s no coincidence that Rusatom has an office in South Africa or that our deputy president, David Mabuza, went for medical treatment to Russia.

They have even identified a site near Cape Saint Francis for this power station.

Things that are being kept out of the public’s eye include issues such as cracks in the concrete core of Koeberg, which was built by the French over 35 years ago.

Another little accident, namely a ruptured barrel at the nuclear waste site in the Northern Cape, has also been quickly taken out of the media even though people were contaminated.

The fallout from our low-grade reactor at Pelindaba, which produces medical isotopes, resulted in radioactive contamination being detected in the stormwater drains in the area. These feed into Hartbeespoort Dam, but yet again this disappeared from the papers very quickly.

Rusatom, as part of their deal, offered to decommission the plant at the end of its lifespan. But they failed to mention that with all their close to 50 plants, they have not managed to decommission a single one.

People should take note of the second largest user of nuclear power in Europe, namely France with eight reactors, who, when faced with maybe having to built another one, decided against it and went for renewable energy.