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S. Africa to commence nuclear procurement process

Xinhua, May 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Africa will commence with the nuclear procurement process in the second quarter of this

financial year, South African Minister of Energy Tina Joemat- Pettersson said in Pretoria on Tuesday.

"We will commence with the actual nuclear procurement process in the second quarter of this financial year to select a strategic partner or partners in a competitive, fair, transparent and cost effective manner. We expect to present the outcome of this procurement process to cabinet by year end," said the Minister.

South African government approved the Nuclear Energy Policy in 2008, which enables the expansion of the nuclear build programme in a coordinated manner to address the country's socioeconomic needs and to bolster the economy.

The country's cabinet has approved a schedule named "Integrated Resource Plan 2010-2030," which provides for 9,600 megawatts of electricity to be generated through nuclear power, with the first unit commissioned by 2023.

The southernmost African country also has signed various inter- governmental agreements with several countries, laying the foundation for cooperation, trade and exchange for nuclear technology as well as procurement.

Those agreements described broad areas of nuclear cooperation and they differed on emphasis, based on the unique needs of each country, including China, Russia and France.

Pettersson said that completed agreements will be submitted to cabinet for discussion and endorsement in the coming weeks after which the requisite parliamentary processes for ratification of these agreements will follow.

In addition, vendor parades have been completed with all nuclear vendor countries that have shown interest to participate in the nuclear new build programme.

In preparation for the rollout of the nuclear build programme, Department of Energy (DoE) has commenced with a nuclear skills development and training programme where DoE will be sending students to attend focussed training in various countries.

50 trainees from government nuclear industry entities were sent to China in April for nuclear training, and plans are underway to send an additional 250 trainees to China, according to DoE.

Russian offered South Africa five new nuclear scholarships in nuclear physics this year, while South Korea has a standing programme to train South African students in nuclear engineering, authorities confirmed. Endi