South Africa Electricity Plan: Solar, Wind – & Nuclear ???
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You might think this would be a good time to hold off investing in a new nuclear reactor.
But even as some countries take a step back —
- Germany has taken seven of its oldest plants offline,
- Italy has declared a one-year moratorium on a plan to re-establish its nuclear industry, and
- China has temporarily suspended approvals of new plants —
South Africa is moving confidently ahead.
The week after the quake and tsunami set off the Fukushima nuclea
You might think this would be a good time to hold off investing in a new nuclear reactor.
But even as some countries take a step back —
- Germany has taken seven of its oldest plants offline,
- Italy has declared a one-year moratorium on a plan to re-establish its nuclear industry, and
- China has temporarily suspended approvals of new plants —
South Africa is moving confidently ahead.
The week after the quake and tsunami set off the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan,
South Africa’s cabinet ratified a controversial 20-year Integrated Resource Plan
that calls for nuclear power to fuel nearly a quarter of the country’s new electricity production.
“We were quite bold to do that,” Rob Adam, chief executive of the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa, said of the government’s decision to proceed.
“The European countries panicked. I don’t think public opinion has changed.”
South Africa’s new plan, known as IRP-2, also clearly sets out to wean South Africa from its heavy reliance on coal,
which now generates 84 percent of the nation’s electricity.
As part of the unusual energy mix proposed in IRP-2,
renewable energy sources like sun and wind will account for 42 percent of new electricity generation.
To meet the new mandate, half a dozen new plants will probably be built along South Africa’s coastline, the industry says.
Currently the continent’s only nuclear power station, Koeberg, sits on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean 20 miles north of Cape Town.
The French-designed units rely on the ample saltwater to cool their condensers.
Major earthquakes are not common in South Africa.
But critics of nuclear power note that fault lines a few miles from the Koeberg nuclear plant gave rise to an earthquake 200 years ago
that is estimated to have had roughly the same magnitude as the recent quake in Christchurch, New Zealand — 6.3.
The apartheid-era Koeberg, which went online in 1984, was built to withstand a 7.0 quake,
said Hilary Joffe, a spokeswoman for Eskom, the national electric company.
Environmentalists express skepticism.
“Show me one that’s withstood a 7.0,” said Muna Lakhani, branch coordinator of Earthlife Africa’s Cape Town office.
“I don’t think you can engineer for mother nature.”
Local critics also argue that calling nuclear power “green” simply because it is not generated from fossil fuels
ignores its potential environmental impact in the event of an accident.
Advocates of squeaky-clean energy say they would have preferred more investment in lower-tech solutions
that don’t produce radioactive waste and that could begin producing power in the next couple of years.
Planners predict that in two decades, the country’s electrical grid will need to double its current capacity to keep pace with growing demand.
Part of the need comes from a backlog of unelectrified homes.
Today, nearly 20 percent of South Africans live without electricity at home.
These 3.3 million people living off the grid aren’t eco-pioneers doing so intentionally.
Initiatives to expand basic electricity access have slowed down considerably,
with long waits for the most impoverished people, like those living in shacks and squatter camps with little infrastructure.
In the meantime, South Africa struggles to keep its lights on.
As demand soars, consumers have been facing double-digit annual bill increases.
Huge rolling blackouts ended in 2008, but the situation remains precarious, especially now, as the country edges into winter.
Some 140 companies — Eskom calls them “key customers” — consume 40 percent of the national supply.
Having built up their companies on a premise of cheap energy, these big boys of industry have been slow to embrace energy conservation.
One thing’s for sure: nuclear reactors don’t get built overnight.
Dr. Adam said that the first could be operational as soon as 2020 and that the process of building a series would involve creating a local high-tech industry.
“By number six, we’d be manufacturing a significant portion of the reactor,” he said to the New York Times.
