With our plans to double our generation capacity, investigations are under way to determine the feasibility of some of this capacity being conventional nuclear power plant.

A strategic decision has been taken to remain with the pressurised water reactor family of reactors − similar to that which is used at Koeberg, but of the most recent design. Negotiations have started with two potential vendors, Westinghouse in the USA for the AP1000 design and Areva in France for the EPR design. The nuclear licensing process is anticipated to start during 2008, once the vendor has been selected.

The EIA for the first of the proposed nuclear power stations is being conducted on five sites that were previously identified, namely, Brazil (near Kleinzee) and Schulpfontein (near Hondeklip Bay) on the Northern Cape west coast, Duynefontein (Koeberg) and Bantamsklip (near Pearly Beach, east of Gans Bay) on the Western Cape coast, and Thyspunt (near Oyster Bay, west of Cape St Francis) on the Eastern Cape coast. The first of the proposed nuclear power plants is expected to have a capacity of approximately 3 500MW.

A draft scoping report has been released for public comment. Public open days and key stakeholder workshops were held in February/March 2008 to discuss the outcomes of the scoping phase. The detailed impact assessment phase will culminate in a draft environmental impact report to be released for public comment later in 2008.

The nuclear programme is subject to affordability and resource capacity.

Click here for details of the PBMR development project.