Leading French nuclear companies are circling power utility Eskom, hoping to get in on the construction of the next conventional nuclear plant in the Western Cape, Business Report said on Tuesday.
Industry speculation is that Areva, the company that built South Africa’s first and only plant at Koeberg, is prepared to take a stake in the development of the fourth-generation pebble-bed modular reactor programme in exchange for the contract to build the country’s second conventional nuclear plant.
The news follows hard on the heels of the nuclear programme proposed last week by Alec Erwin, the Minister of Public Enterprises.
The programme, which includes the construction of 12 conventional and 24 pebble-bed reactors, could cost more than R900-billion, the paper said.
The second conventional power station, expected to be built near Koeberg, could cost as much as R70-billion, according to Brian Dames, the managing director of Eskom’s enterprise division. – Sapa