Cape Town – Minister of Energy and Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is set to host a Nuclear Seminar in Tshwane on Thursday to discuss the current state and future prospects of nuclear energy in South Africa.
The seminar aims to facilitate open, objective, and scientifically informed discussions, focusing on key challenges, facts, and opportunities in nuclear energy and technology.
“Discussions will focus on surfacing key challenges, facts and opportunities on nuclear energy and technology to gather insights and recommendations for policy refinement and implementation through robust dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders, including government, industry, academia, civil society and key players,” the department said in a statement.
Stakeholders from government, industry, academia, and civil society will collaborate to provide insights and recommendations for policy refinement and implementation.
South Africa has received a R628 million grant from the European Union in support of its green hydrogen agenda. However, Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says the grant will not help the country with the immediate electricity challenges of load shedding.
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Ramokgopa has emphasised the importance of nuclear energy for South Africa’s long-term energy needs, highlighting its role in anchoring the country’s baseload.
Although the recent determination for procuring 2,500 MW of nuclear energy was withdrawn, Ramokgopa reaffirmed that nuclear energy remains a crucial part of South Africa’s energy mix.
He stressed the importance of transparency and scrutiny in the nuclear procurement process to ensure its credibility and sustainability.
“In the long term, we need to ensure that we anchor the baseload and nuclear is an important part of that intervention. We are working on the framework for procurement because we don’t want to discredit the process through a procurement process that is not transparent.
“We will do it at the scale and speed that we can afford as a country,” he said.
