Reactors are considerd enormously complex machines where many things can and do go wrong , there have been many serious nuclear accidents however on the other hand they are a sustainablebenergy source which reduces carbon emmissions and can increase energy security if its use supplants a dependence on imported fuels.
South Africa, which has the continent’s only nuclear power station, has earmarked nuclear expansion as the centrepiece of a plan to increase power generation to ease the country’s reliance on an ageing fleet of coal-fired plants and has asked Eskom to procure an additional 9 600 MW of capacity.
Eskom Acting CEO Matshela Koko
South African power utility Eskom will this week invite bids to build six nuclearreactors in the government’s push to increase nuclear capacity, its acting CEO said on Tuesday, despite the concerns of campaign groups and economists.
Eskom‘s Matshela Koko, speaking to reporters in Cape Town on the sidelines of a court case in which environmental and clean-energy campaigners are challenging the government’s decision, said the nuclear regulator’s approval of the plan on Dec. 8 meant the company could proceed with the tender.
Koko took the helm at Eskom at the start of December following the resignation of Brian Molefe, who resigned after being implicated in allegations of influence peddling in a report by an anti-graft watchdog. Molefe has denied any wrongdoing.
South African power utility Eskom will this week invite bids to build six nuclearreactors in the government’s push to increase nuclear capacity.