New solar resource maps for south africa the energy blog. Highlevel nuclear waste in the form of spent nuclear fuel elements from koeberg nuclear power station for the last 30 years is currently stored on the koeberg site, and is the responsibility of. This is a list of power stations around the world by countries or regions. The site is located next to the existing koeberg nuclear power station. It has been operating since 1984 and holds the record for the longest continuous operating eskom unit. Only a decade ago, nuclear power used to be the cheapest nonco2 emitting generation technology. South africa plans to use fuel created from former russian nuclear warheads to fuel a new line of small nuclear power plants. Introduction the demand for energy continually increases with south africa s developing population and economy. Since 1999, south africa has been developing pebble bed modular reactors, relatively low power units, and plans to build 24 of them by 2028. Each unit is a 3 loop framatome pressurized water reactor rated at 920 mwe. Information table map analyze export api comments 0. It is located 30 km north of cape town, near melkbosstrand on the west coast of south africa. However, south africa is a water stressed country, which poses challenges for the supply of water. The vogtle3 and 4 construction project tops the list, and its location is indicated on the map with a green star.
South africa has the continents only nuclear power station and is seeking to expand its nuclear, wind, solar and coal power capacity in the coming decades as. List of decommissioned power stations in south africa. Technical and institutional options for the future. The largest hydroelectric power plant in south africa is the 1 000 megawatt drakensberg pumped.
Eskom is overhauling the continents sole nuclear plant with the aim of extending its lifespan by at least 20 years. Nuclear power in south africa south african nuclear energy. South africa s koeberg nuclear power station is seen on the outskirts of cape town, south africa in february, 2012. South africa is presently the only african country with a commercial nuclear power plant. The highest dni predicted in south africa is now 3. South african who attacked a nuclear plant is a hero to. As for the future, we have to wait and see which other african countries will build nuclear power plants. Koeberg showcases south africa s successful history of nuclear operations. The total cost of the proposed nuclear power stations to generate an additional 9600 mw in south africa has not been revealed. See the energy intensive user group of southern africa eiug memorandum. According to reuters 2015, south africa will have new nuclear power. According to the ministry of energy, south africa s total domestic electricity generation capacity is 51,309 megawatts mw from all sources.
Nuclear fuels are very energyefficient as a large amount of energy is obtained from a very small mass of nuclear fuel. For example, eskoms coalfired power stations are located near to the coal fields. The following is a list of electricity generating facilities within south africa that are not operating. The national energy regulator of south africa nersa established by the national energy. List of world power plants sourced from global energy observatory. South africa will have six new nuclear power plants by 2030, which will cost between r400 billion and r1 trillion to build, according to a report by reuters.
The reactor is being built in barakah and is led by a south korean consortium. Final report findings of the african nuclear study. South africa is considering the construction of three nuclear power stations on its coastline despite objections from environmentalists. The dni map is used by developers of csp concentrating solar power thermal power stations as well as cpv concentrating photovoltaic power stations to evaluate the available resource in an area for their technology. The country currently has africa s sole nuclear plant.
In addition, eskom operates the nuclear power station at koeberg. The plant, which is approximately 30 kilometres north of cape town, consists of two 900 megawatt pressurized water reactors. South africa s koeberg nuclear power station, the only nuclear power plant in africa, has been incidentfree in its 34year operations. Koeburg nuclear power station koeburg is located about 20 miles from cape town on the west coast of south africa. This heats the water to produce steam to turn the turbine. It is currently the only one on the entire african continent. South africa will be building a group of new nuclear power stations to add an extra 9 600 mw of nuclear power to the existing approximately 2 000 mw of nuclear power. South africa is the only country in africa with a commercial nuclear power plant two reactors located at the koeberg nuclear power station accounts for around 5% of south africa s electricity production. Scope of energy statistics in south africa and in statistics south africa. Germany went as far as adopting a road map that would lead to the eventual closure of all its nuclear power stations. Koeberg nuclear power station is a nuclear power station in south africa. The two reactors form the cornerstone of the south african nuclear program.
Why south africa should not build eight new nuclear power. Figure 2 final sectoral consumption of energy in tj, 20032004. In south africa s case, new nuclear power was meant to come on stream by. Irena is grateful to the international atomic energy agency iaea for making an earlier. Why is the public so concerned about new nuclear power. South africas directorgeneral for electricity, nuclear and clean energy ompi. In south africa too the need for the continued inclusion of nuclear power in.
Spent fuel is disposed of at vaalputs radioactive waste disposal facility in the northern cape the safari1 tank in pool research reactor is located at the pelindaba nuclear research. Nuclear power has been touted as one of the solutions to meet this ever. However, the decision to use foreign fuel might change as the. South africa s previous nuclear power attempts shed further light on the financial issues surrounding the establishment of nuclear reactors. South africa plans three nuclear power stations south. Estimated growth in summer peak demand for electricity in the united states has fallen from the 1974. Nuclear power stations use nuclear fuels, such as uranium, to generate heat and radiation by nuclear fission.
Nuclear power in south africa was constructed in the 1980s, and has served south africa well for the last 30 years. A power station also referred to as a generating station, power plant, powerhouse or generating plant is an industrial place for the generation of electric power. Nuclear energy in south africa, nuclear power, and list of nuclear reactors. South africa already has the only african active nuclear power station, ghana is going ahead with development of a 700mw nuclear plant with plans to expand to mw, and other countries including kenya, egypt, ghana and the democratic republic of the congo have researchoriented nuclear reactors. New nuclear build in south africa advances a step further as the department of environmental affairs dea has granted eskom permission to proceed with the nuclear installation at duynefontein in the western cape. Arguing that nuclear power has the potential to make a substantial contribution to sustainable development and a significant contribution to reducing south africa s greenhouse gas emissions and in the light of the countrys rich resources of uranium, the eskom board had approved the investigation of up to 20 000 mw of nuclear capacity over. South african attitudes about nuclear power economic research.
Thermal power stations, whether coalfired, gas, oil or nuclear, require large quantities of water for cooling purposes. The implications of south africas nuclear power programme. The us department of energy estimates that there are 6 000 to 8 000 potential sites in south africa suitable for small hydroutilisation below 100 megawatts, with the provinces of kwazulunatal and the eastern cape offering the best prospects. The only operating nuclear power station in south africa is the koeberg power plant run by the stateowned electricity utility, eskom. Nuclear power plants south africa eskom, the south african electric utility, operates a 2 unit site at koeberg nuclear power station near capetown.
For reasons which have not been properly explained, negotiations pertaining to the purchase of equipment for the building of a nuclear power station are held behind closed doors and not made available to the public. Koeberg is owned and operated by the countrys only national electricity supplier, eskom. Electricity consumption in south africa has been growing rapidly since 1980 and the country is part of the southern. South africa s nuclear power stations plan reaches milestone. It is the only commercial nuclear power station on the african continent and only one of four in the southern hemisphere. The plant is formed of two pressurised water reactors pwr which have a capacity of.
Conventional thermal power sources will likely be the dominant. It has two nuclear reactors, and generates approximately ve percent of the countrys electricity. The plant is formed of two pressurised water reactors pwr which have a capacity of 970mw, offering a combined capacity of 1. We call on the people of south africa to oppose the governments shady. In september 2014 rosatom signed an agreement with south africa s energy minister to advance the prospect of building up to 9. South africa produces around 229,200 gigawatthours 825,000 tj electricity annually. Environmental issues, financial and economic implications and safety of the proposed plant was on top of the agenda. Koeberg is the only nuclear power station in south africa. There are currently eight countries building nuclear energy infrastructure and south africa already has a nuclear power generating plant at the koeberg power station in the western cape.
South africa energy statistics united nations statistics division. How will south africas new nuclear power stations be paid. Nuclear power in south africa south african nuclear. The south african government has plans to build another nuclear power station. The key project is construction of new nuclear power plants with the russian vver reactors totaling 9. Most of this electricity is consumed domestically, but around 12,000 gigawatthours are annually exported to swaziland, botswana, mozambique, lesotho, namibia, zambia, zimbabwe and other southern african development community countries participating in the southern african power pool. South africa has two nuclear power plants in koeberg near capetown. The chernobyl disaster reminded the world of the human and environmental costs of nuclear power accidents.
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