A South African Ministerial Determination for the procurement of twenty-five hundred megawatts of new nuclear capacity has been withdrawn to allow for further public consultation after legal challenges to the procedure for seeking public comments.
The Determination was reached in 2020 but was formally published in January this year. The official publication cleared the way for procurement activities to start. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is the Minister of Energy and Electricity. He told a media briefing that the Determination, and National Energy Regulator of South Africa's concurrence of the process, had come under legal pressure because public comments had not been sought and the procedure had not been fair.
Ramokgopa said, “I have taken the decision…to withdraw the gazette to allow for that public participation to happen.” The minister emphasized that nuclear power remains part of the government's plans for energy security. He added that it is “happy” to delay the process “to allow for each and every party in the country that wants to add a voice in how we are going to procure this process … to be given the opportunity to be able to make that submission. So it will add another three to six months in the process. We are happy to do that for as long as we protect the integrity of the process; for as long as we cement the transparency of the process so that there’s general public confidence in the work that we are doing. Nuclear is part of the mix. Nuclear is part of the future but it’s important that as we go out…the procurement process must be able to stand the test of time. In this instance, it’s the ability to be able to subject itself to scrutiny.”
Ramokgopa added, “Let’s go back to that process; accord the public an opportunity to scrutinize, respond and then on the basis of that [National Energy Regulator of South Africa] can make a determination on concurrence. Once we receive that, we’ll issue the gazette and ensure that we procure.”
The South African Democratic Alliance (SADA) political party was one of the groups that had begun legal action challenging the determination, with a court hearing scheduled for 15 October. SADA said, “We view this withdrawal as a significant step in ensuring that public voices are considered in decisions of this magnitude. It represents an important win for the rule of law and the principles of transparency.”
The South African government is in the process of updating its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). This document sets out how it will seek to ensure security of the South African electricity supply. The previous IRP, published in 2019, recognized the need to retain nuclear power in the country's energy mix. It supported utility Eskom in pursuing a license for the long-term operation of the Koeberg nuclear power plant. The two-reactor plant at Koeberg is the only operating nuclear power plant on the African content and produces about five percent of South Africa's electricity.
In July, South Africa's National Nuclear Regulator granted Eskom a license to continue operating Koeberg Reactor 1 for another twenty years until the 21th of July 2044. The regulator is expected to render a decision on the long-term operation Reactor 2 by early November 2025.