Could mini nuclear stations plug South Africa’s power gaps?

PRETORIA – South African nuclear scientists want to build a new generation of mini nuclear reactors, both to plug holes in their own country’s blackout-plagued grid and to build an export industry for the future.

One company has designed a gas-cooled small modular reactor that it says can be installed within three years on a site smaller than a football field and safely produce enough power for a city.

Similar projects are underway in other countries, as the world confronts the challenge of powering a future economy of electrified transport, heating and data centres while slashing carbon emissions.

Europe is divided on the way forward. Some countries, led by France, are betting on nuclear. Others, like Germany, are hoping that renewables like wind and solar will replace fossil fuels and make-up for the loss of access to Russia’s natural gas exports.

South Africa will rely on coal for some time to come but, with power already in short supply, it is betting on building up its nuclear programme.

And some experts like Kelvin Kemm, a nuclear physicist and chief executive of Pretoria-based private outfit Stratek Global, think South Africa is uniquely placed to take the lead in developing fourth generation reactors.

– Rolling blackouts –

“I believe the future is not only around the corner, I believe the future has arrived,” Kemm told AFP in an interview.

“I see in the next half dozen years, there is going to be a massive worldwide proliferation of nuclear power of all sizes, that there will be a huge change of heart over the next 24 months. I believe South Africa is already a leader.”

South Africa’s civilian nuclear journey began in 1976 when construction began on the Koeberg nuclear power plant, on the South Atlantic coast just north of Cape Town. 

It was commissioned 40 years ago and has a capacity of just under 2,000 megawatts, a small chunk of the 27,000 MW that South Africa’s much-derided state electricity firm Eskom can deliver, thanks largely to carbon-intensive coal-fired plants.

But domestic demand for power often peaks at more than 32,000 MW per day, and South Africans face rolling blackouts or “load-shedding” of up to 12 hours a day, a serious burden on the economy of what should be the continent’s powerhouse.