Rosatom might take part in South Africa’s large-scale program to construct a 9.6 GW (eight-unit) nuclear power plants. The cooperation agreement was signed last year by the two governments. SAR Minister of Energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson said at the last year’s meeting that the partnership between South Africa and Russia would contribute to the ambitious national program of peaceful atom development, open access to Russian technologies, infrastructure and financing, and lay a solid foundation for further cooperation.
During the meeting with SAR President Jacob Zuma at the BRICS summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that South Africa is Russia’s leading and reliable partner in the region. “We cooperate across a variety of areas, both on bilateral projects and in the framework of international organizations, such as the United Nations, BRICS, WTO and IAEA,” said President Putin.
As part of the BRICS summit, the parties signed memorandums of understanding to train South African personnel in the fields of nuclear energy and public acceptance of nuclear power in the country. The first document provides for joint educational projects focusing on the training of multiple categories of nuclear professionals – instructors, construction engineers, maintenance and operating personnel for nuclear power plants, non-nuclear and nuclear infrastructure. Nearly 200 South African students will come to Russia to major in nuclear energy. The action program includes development of new educational materials, academic exchange, internships, summer schools, academic contests and teacher training.
The second memorandum provides for joint projects and special events to raise awareness of nuclear energy in South Africa and inform local communities of advantages offered by nuclear technologies.
Rosatom and the SAR Ministry of Energy will discuss an opportunity to establish a nuclear power information center in South Africa (Rosatom operates only a marketing office in Johannesburg so far).
New arrangements between the two countries improve Russia’s position as a bidder for the construction of new reactors in the South African Republic. Other potential bidders are France, China, South Korea, USA and Japan, and most of them (except Japan) have similar cooperation agreements signed with South Africa. The bidding process to select a vendor can start as early as July, Ms. Joemat-Pettersson has said recently. The plan to construct new nuclear generation facilities was approved by the national government in 2010. Initially, the bidding was planned to start before the end of 2012.
As for now, South Africa operates the only 1,800 MW Koeberg nuclear power station satisfying about 5 % of the country’s demand for electricity. New power plants will increase this share up to 30% by 2030. As mentioned before, nuclear plants to be constructed will give a push to the national nuclear industry, create 30,000 jobs, attract about USD 16bn in investments at the construction stage and bring USD 5bn in direct budget revenues.
