Environmental organisation -Earthlife Africa, is concerned about the recent approval of a new nuclear plant in the Western Cape.
Makoma Lekalakala and Liziwe McDaid say upfront costs of such a facility will skyrocket, judging from historical construction delays and budget overruns.
Of the gravest concern, is the absence of a plan for long-lived radioactive waste disposal, and the increasing viability of cheaper, faster-to-deploy renewable energy alternatives.
McDaid said “Earthlife Africa is considering the Minister’s decision and our next steps. Our concerns include the length of time taken to conduct the environmental impact assessment and to make the appeal decision. We are also deeply concerned about the affordability of nuclear power, particularly the high upfront capital costs, the risk of construction delays, and the cost overruns that have been experienced worldwide. In addition, there has been no assessment of the socioeconomic impacts of a major beyond-design-basis nuclear incident, nor of the generation of long-lived high-level radioactive waste for which no final disposal solution yet exists.”
McDaid, continued to say “in recent months, we’ve seen a strange fascination with nuclear power, particularly with unproven and non-commercially viable technologies like SMRs. We are in the middle of a climate crisis, and we should be using our abundant natural resources – such as solar and wind – which can be built quickly and deliver affordable power to homes. Nuclear is expensive, and, like other large projects, is plagued by long delays.”
Earthlife says now is the time, to have a proper national energy dialogue.
Picture: SA’s existing nuclear plant, Koeberg, West of Cape Town.