South Africa has new nuclear plans

Carol Paton - Is nuclear energy really the cheapest form of energy generation? On Tuesday, South Africa’s minister of electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa announced that the government would procure 2 500MW of new nuclear energy. Nuclear power, like coal and oil-fired power and battery storage, can provide base-load power to keep the electricity system stable and balance wind and solar PV energy variability. Unlike fossil fuels, it also has a very low carbon footprint, although not as low as renewable energy. However, nuclear energy produces deadly radioactive waste, which the world has not yet found a safe way to dispose of. Ramokgopa described nuclear power as "the cheapest, the safest, and the most reliable" energy generation technology.The typical tariffs for energy in South Africa right now, using the latest pricing, said Ramokgopa, are: Solar PV (50c per kWh), wind (87c per kWh), concentrated solar power (R1.35 per kWh), open-cycle gas turbines – diesel (R5.80 per kWh) and nuclear (60c per kWh).CostBut, while nuclear energy generation is one of the cheaper forms of energy to run, it is by far the most expensive to build. To compare the costs of very different technologies, including both the cost of construction and the running cost, engineers and analysts calculate the levelised cost of electricity per kWh using a formula that includes the factors in the attached table. An explanation, where the factor is not self-evident, also appears below. The calculation below was done by independent energy analyst Clyde Mallinson, using data from energy and financial consultants Lazard and industry sources. Lazard undertakes an annual survey of all the factors in the global levelised cost calculation in today's prices. Any change in the assumptions – such as the load factor - will affect the comparative levelised cost. Diesel-fired turbines, intended only for use during peak hours (although Eskom has used them much more frequently than the purpose for which they were designed), are by far the most expensive technology at R5.11 per KWh.ExpensiveAmong the other technologies, nuclear energy stands out as the most expensive at almost double the cost of coal at R1.87 per kWh, more than four times the cost of wind generation, and four-and-half times the cost of solar PV. These are all utility-scale prices.In 2020, the department of mineral resources and energy (DMRE) issued a request for information to the market to get an idea of what a new nuclear build will cost. At the Tuesday briefing, Dr Naphtali Mokgalapa, nuclear power reactor specialist at the department, provided the ballpark numbers that emerged from the RFI. These are "overnight" capital costs for construction only and are measured in US dollars per kilowatt. They are not comparable to the levelised costs measured in kilowatt hours. Overnight costs exclude borrowing costs, such as interest. Mokgalapa said the numbers ranged from US$2 100 per kilowatt to US$7 500 per kilowatt for large conventional reactors; between US$2 100 per kilowatt and US$3 000 per kilowatt for pebble-based reactors, and between US$4 000 and US$5 000 per kilowatt for small modular reactors. He said these were tentative costs and needed to be looked at in much more detail. The costs should also be considered "holistically" in light of the other benefits of nuclear power.ReactorThe government has yet to decide which type of reactor to build. The official request for proposals (RFP) will be put out in April 2024. The government was not considering running a state-to-state procurement, said Zizamele Mbambo, the deputy director-general of nuclear energy in the DMRE.According to Mbambo: “We are not in a position to start talking about the design of the tender, so we cannot pronounce on the shape and form of the RFP.”Mbambo said the procurement would involve a competitive bidding process in line with the Constitution and be "open, transparent, and cost-effective". TimeA rule of thumb is that nuclear build takes between 10 and 15 years to complete, said Mbambo, and the government hoped to bring the first unit online in 2032. Mbambo was also in charge of South Africa's previous attempt to build a mega 9 600MW nuclear plant during Jacob Zuma's administration, using a closed tender and a government-to-government agreement.A court stopped the procurement on procedural grounds. – Fin24

South Africa has new nuclear plans

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