Nuclear Deal: yet another reason why it must be abandoned
16 August 2015
The Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) conducted to assess and predict the environmental consequences of chosen nuclear build sites - and which are necessary by law - are outdated and obsolete, and cannot be used in support of the proposed trillion rand nuclear build programme.
This is yet another reason why Minister of Energy, Tina Joematt-Pettersson, must move to scrap this secretive and unaffordable nuclear deal once and for all.
This information came to light in a reply to a DA parliamentary question in which the Minister of Energy revealed that the EIA’s – which are needed before construction can begin – were carried out for only three of the proposed sites by Eskom between 2007 and 2008.
The DA has reviewed the existing EIAs and we have noted deficiencies in at least two respects.
Firstly, the EIA’s have only assessed the suitability and environmental impact of High Pressurized Water Reactors, a technology currently being used at South Africa’s sole nuclear site at Koeberg.
The EIA’s have not considered technology being offered by other bid vendors such as Rossatom’s AES 2006 reactor. This reactor, the VVER, is a water to water pressurised rector and differs materially from the design evaluated by the EIA. Adoption of technology from vendor nations with designs deviating from Koeberg’s would therefore be ill advised and invalid.
Secondly, the EIA was conducted when the power utility was planning on expanding its nuclear generating fleet through the nuclear-1 project - a much smaller, single site project which does not compare to the current proposed build programme.
Indeed, the Environmental Consultants who did carry out the EIA indicated that the evaluation was only for a single nuclear power station of a maximum of 4 000 MW. In their report, the following was made clear:
“In spite of the above-mentioned broad recommendations regarding the number of power stations that could potentially be constructed at each site, it must be emphasized that the current application is for a single nuclear power station of a maximum of 4 000 MW. The cumulative impacts of any additional nuclear power stations on a particular site (if authorised) would have to be confirmed in a new EIA process prior to any further development.”
This is significantly less than the current nuclear build programme, which is estimated at 9600MW, more than double the maximum of 4000 MW stipulated in the EIA. The report also makes it quite clear – anything above 4000MW would have to be confirmed in a new EIA process prior to any further development.
The fact that the Minister is trying to distort South Africa’s legislative processes, in this way, is deeply concerning.
It is now increasingly clear that the proposed trillion rand nuclear deal is ill-thought out, and rushed, and should not be pursued. The Minister must now put her pride aside, and do what is right: scrap the deal, once and for all.
Text of the reply:
MINISTRY OF ENERGY
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Memorandum from the Parliamentary Office
National Assembly : 2604
2604. Mr P van Dalen (DA) to ask the Minister of Energy:
(1) (a) What are the names of each of the proposed sites where the new nuclear power plants will be built and (b) where are each of these sites located;
(2) whether any environmental impact assessments have been done at each of these sites; if not, why not; if so, (a) when and (b) what were the detailed findings of these assessments;
(3) in respect of each of the proposed sites, are there currently transmission lines in place to connect the power generated from the nuclear power station to the national power grid? NW2979E
Reply:
(1) (a) and (b) Thyspunt in the Eastern Cape
Dunefontein in the Western Cape
Bantamsklip in the Western Cape
Brazil in Northern Cape
Schulpfontein in the Western Cape
KwaZulu-Natal the names of sites and locations yet to be identified investigated in detail
(2) (a) The Environmental Impact Assessment has been done for Thyspunt, Dunefontein and Batamsklip
(b) The detailed findings of the assessments of these sites are public available on Eskom Nuclear's 1 EIA website.
The Brazil and Schulpfontein sites were scoped out during scoping phase
The EIA has not started in potential sites in KwaZulu-Natal as these still have to be confirmed
(3) The transmission to the grid is contained in the EIA report.
ENDS
Statement issued by Gordon Mackay, DA Shadow Minister of Energy, August 16 2015
