S Africa to invest $126 bn on six new nuclear plants by 2030: report

South Africa may float a $126-billion tender for the construction of six new nuclear plants by 2030, Johannesburg's Mail & Guardian newspaper said, citing unidentified people in government and the industry.

The report said that the country's energy department submitted its nuclear tender proposal to the Cabinet last month, and energy minister Dipuo Peters was quoted as saying it would finalise the proposal before the end of this year. Bidding will begin next year.

French and Chinese companies may prepare a joint bid, the Mail & Guardian said. It listed the potential bidders as Areva and EDF of France, Toshiba of Japan, Westinghouse Electric of the US, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Corporation, Korea Electric Power Corporation and Russian state-owned Rosatom Corporation.

South Africa's first commercial nuclear power reactor began operating in 1984 and currently has two nuclear reactors generating 5 per cent of the country's electricity or 1,800 MWe.

The South African government plans to add a further 9,600 MWe in the next decade, but would need the financial muscle and political will to allocate large funds for nuclear energy.

Electricity consumption in Africa's largest economy has risen rapidly since 1980 and the country is part of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), with installed generating capacity of 54.7 GWe, of which around 80 per cent is under the control of South Africa's state run utility Eskom.

In the May 2011 budget speech, Peters had said that 22 per cent of new generating capacity by 2030 would be nuclear and 14 per cent coal-fired. The country needs 40 GWe of new generation by 2025, about half of which should be nuclear, he said.