Category Archives: International

Minister Ramokgopa’s withdraws nuclear determination

Posted on by Koeberg Alert

In 2020 Minister Mantashe submitted a determination under section 34 of the Electricity Regulation Act to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) calling for the procurement of 2500MW of new nuclear generation capacity. After a public consultation process, NERSA issued a ‘conditional concurrence’, specifying three suspensive conditions. The main one of these was that the Minister had yet to demonstrate that such a procurement would be ‘rational’. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) then submitted a response to these conditions to NERSA in July 2023 but controversially did not release that response to the public. The DMRE then announced it had received full concurrence from NERSA and was proceeding with the procurement process.

Many civil society organisations and academic groups maintain that there is no rational basis for a nuclear procurement, which is a possible explanation for the attempt by the DMRE and Mantashe to proceed without public scrutiny. Two organisations, SAFCEI and Earthlife Africa launched a court challenge which demanded that the reasons for lifting the suspensive conditions should also be subject to public comment.

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Civil society responds to NNR decision to extend Koeberg’s unit one licence

Posted on by Koeberg Alert

On Monday 15 July 2024, the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) granted Eskom a licence to continue operating Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Unit 1 for another 20 years until 21 July 2044.

The decision was made just seven days before the licence expired and civil society organisations are in uproar about what they regard as a rushed and ill-considered decision.

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Threat of legal action forces release of safety information about Koeberg

Posted on by Koeberg Alert
Extract from the previous version of the Safety Case – revision 1a

This press statement was first released by Save Bantamsklip on 15 September 2023

In March 2023 civil society groups rejected the consultation process for the Koeberg life extension run by the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR), citing concerns about a lack of transparency. Those concerns are now vindicated as the threat of legal action has forced Eskom to release information that was previously being withheld from the public by both Eskom and the NNR. (The newly released versions can be found at the bottom of this article.)

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Civil society rejects NNR public consultation process for Koeberg life extension

Posted on by Koeberg Alert

Koeberg comes to the end of its life in the second half of 2024 when Eskom’s licence issued by the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) expires. Eskom has applied to the NNR for a twenty year extension to this licence and were required to prepare a Safety Case which described why such an extension would be safe. Initially, at a Public Safety Information Forum meeting on 31 March 2022, Eskom refused to release the Safety Case publicly but later backtracked and released a redacted version of it with many sections blacked out in January 2023. 

As part of the licence application, the NNR started a public consultation process on 8 January 2023 with a deadline for submissions on 16 March 2023. Due to the lack of transparency from Eskom, civil society organisations have rejected this process and demanded the complete suspension of the comment period.

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IAEA report reveals 14 safety issues with Koeberg

Posted on by Koeberg Alert

In March 2022 a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited Koeberg to report on how ready the plant was to implement Eskom’s plan to extend its life beyond 2024. Eskom wanted to keep this report secret, but due to a request under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, it is now public.

The report lists fourteen safety issues with the planned life extension, or LTO (Long Term Operation), which mostly highlight that given the current conditions at Koeberg, the refurbishment cannot be done on time, nor safely. The full report is included below.

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IAEA visit to Koeberg results in misunderstandings

Posted on by Koeberg Alert

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited the Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant near Cape Town from 22 to 31 March 2022. Both the IAEA and Eskom put out media statements after the visit, which are available on the Eskom and IAEA sites respectively. The statements have resulted in some misunderstanding, which we try to correct below.

Firstly, it is important to bear in mind that the IAEA is an organisation with voluntary membership and has the objective “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy”, according to its statute. Member states may invite the IAEA to visit a nuclear site to conduct a review and make recommendations, and this visit was done after a request from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.

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Nuclear safety concerns sparked by dismissal of community representative

Posted on by Koeberg Alert

Statement from the South African Faith Communities Environment Institute
Released 4 March 2022

It has now been just over a week since Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe fired Peter Becker (on 25 February) – the community representative on the board of the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR), a position that is required by law – and many communities and civil society organisations are seething. Many feel that this dismissal implies, especially for those communities who live in the surrounding areas of Koeberg and near sites that government has earmarked for nuclear (such as Thyspunt), that their safety and their concerns about nuclear energy will either be silenced or will not effectively be dealt with.

According to Francesca de Gasparis, Executive Director at the Southern African Faith Communities’ Institute (SAFCEI), “This dismissal also sends the wrong message to current and future board members, who may not want to risk their position by speaking out about issues that concern them and those they represent. The role of the community representative on the Board is to represent communities when it comes to developments that could put their wellbeing and livelihoods at risk.”

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Minister Mantashe fires community representative for ‘misconduct’

Posted on by Koeberg Alert

Minister Mantashe suspended the civil society representative on the Board of the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) on 18 January based on a legal opinion provided to him on 10 October 2021. After a long process of letter writing and providing representations including a clear rebuttal of the allegations made against Peter Becker, the Minister wrote the letter below discharging Becker from the Board.

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No valid reasons for discharge from Board of Nuclear Regulator

Posted on by Koeberg Alert

After a long process which began in July 2021 Minister Mantashe provided reasons why he intended to fire the civil society representative on the Board of the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) on 16 February 2022. This was the first time the Minister had committed his reasons to paper, and it provided the first opportunity for Peter Becker, the suspended Board member, to respond to the allegations of misconduct that the Minister was making.

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Court order suspended NNR decision making

Posted on by Koeberg Alert

After Minister Mantashe suspended the civil society representative on the Board of the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR), an urgent court date was set to challenge the legality of this suspension. This appeared to be an open and shut case, and so the Minister through the State Attorney, and the NNR through the firm MacRobert Attorneys, reached out to make a settlement.

As part of the settlement, the Minister agreed to make a decision on whether or not to discharge the community representative, Peter Becker, by 15 February 2022. In the same settlement, the NNR agreed to suspend all decision making and meetings of the Board and subcommittees while the illegal suspension was in effect. This settlement agreement was made an order of the High Court. As it turned out, the Minister did not meet the deadline, and it is not know whether or not the NNR complied with the order.

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