The South African government has withdrawn the gazettement of the determination to procure 2,500MW of new nuclear energy generation under the Electricity Regulation Act, citing insufficient public engagement.
The announcement was made earlier today (Friday, 16 August) by Minister of Electricity and Energy Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa during a press conference.
Ramokgopa agreed that Earthlife Africa and the Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute (SAFCEI) were correct in their assertion that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) had failed in its obligation to request public engagement on the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s report on how it would meet the suspensive conditions for the nuclear determination.
SAFCEI and Earthlife Africa seek to review and set aside the Section 34 ministerial nuclear determination to procure 2,500MW of new nuclear energy capacity.
The organisations argue that the determination is unlawful and unconstitutional because the process has been procedurally unfair thus far.
Ramokgopa agreed with the organisations on procedural grounds, saying NERSA should have handled this issue “much, much better.”
“NERSA received the reports [from the department]… and said ‘fine, you can proceed.’ What these parties are arguing is the following: yes, there was a public participation process; that public participation process involved NERSA issuing concurrence subject to suspensive conditions being met.
“The parties are saying that when the department came back on how they were going to meet the suspensive condition, instead of NERSA sitting on its own and applying its mind and giving the final concurrence, they are arguing that NERSA had an obligation to subject that report of suspensive conditions to another process of public participation.”
The suspensive conditions NERSA required from the DMRE:
- Recognition that technology in the nuclear space has evolved and how the department will take this into account
- The DMRE must rationalise for the 2,500MW in terms of demand
- That the nuclear power programme should be done through engineering procurement and construction (EPC) process rather than a fragmented approach
Failure to make the DMRE report public
SAFCEI and Earthlife Africa said this requires an energy demand analysis to inform the energy mix required to meet the envisaged demand, and to assist in determining the required capacity and scale of nuclear procurement.
If not met, then NERSA has not concurred with the determination for more nuclear energy, the parties argued.
The DMRE submitted a report of the suspensive conditions in July 2023, which NERSA accepted.
SAFCEI and Earthlife Africa said that despite its conditional concurrence, NERSA subsequently refused to provide the organisations and the public information about its concurrence or an opportunity to make further representations when the DMRE apparently had met the suspensive conditions.
In a press release on 31 July, Earthlife Africa’s Makoma Lekalakala said: “The last integrated energy plan, IRP2019, included a policy ‘decision’ to commence preparations for a 2,500 MW nuclear build programme at an affordable pace and scale.
“It did not include new nuclear capacity as part of the least-cost electricity generation mix for the 2030 planning horizon. While the recently gazetted draft IRP2023 proposes even more extensive nuclear capacity additions by 2050, totalling 14,500MW, potentially surpassing former President Jacob Zuma’s disastrous 9,600MW nuclear build programme that was declared illegal and unconstitutional by courts in 2017.
Princess Mthombeni, the Founder of Africa4Nuclear, shares insights into which African countries are well on the way to adding nuclear to their energy mix.
The process must pass public scrutiny
Ramokgopa agreed with the parties that NERSA’s failure to make the DMRE’s report available to the public for further comment was procedurally unfair.
“I agree that NERSA should have subjected the department’s report for another public participation process. On the back of that… I’m withdrawing the gazette for that public participation to happen.
“The issue of concurrency sits with NERSA. The only time we were informed that a second public participation did not happen was after the [court] papers were filed.”
SAFCEI and Earthlife Africa said they had on 25 July, received news that the court case will be heard on the S34 Determination on 15-16 October 2024.
Ramokgopa said he thinks the court case will be withdrawn as “we are acceding to their objections.”
He stresses the importance of public engagement and scrutiny.
“We are happy to delay the process… it will add three to six months to the process, but it [the DMRE report] must stand the scrutiny of a public process.”
Increased nuclear generation WILL be part of future energy mix
The Minister was adamant that increased nuclear energy will be part of South Africa’s energy mix from 2030 and beyond.
“Nuclear is part of the mix. I want to emphasise that nuclear is the future. In addition to what we generate from Koeberg, we will increase [nuclear generation].
“Nuclear is government policy, so is hydro, so is solar, so is wind.
“Government has taken the position that nuclear (as well as renewables) is part of government policy. The only qualification government makes is of pace and scale… [and] what we can afford.”
Lobbying against the nuclear energy procurement plan
in July, SAFCEI and Earthlife Africa toured South Africa with Russian environmentalist Vladimir Slivyak, engaging communities about the dangers of nuclear, while garnering support for their court application.
“The exorbitant costs and lengthy build time (likely to be more than a decade) that are associated with nuclear energy projects will divert funds away from essential public services like healthcare, education, housing, and infrastructure development – all these services are already suffering drastically,” said SAFCEI’s Francesca de Gasparis.
Slivyak said the funds required to kickstart a new nuclear build would be better invested in more cost-effective and sustainable energy solutions like solar and wind farms (with battery storage), which can be developed and brought online much quicker. ESI
