Thursday, September 12, 2024
Eskom Group Chief Executive (GCE) Dan Marokane says South Africa should “move with pace” to keep up with the global move towards new nuclear build.
Marokane was addressing stakeholders at the Nuclear Seminar held by the Ministry of Energy and Electricity on Thursday.
“We are for nuclear. We understand that the energy mix is an important component of us achieving our strategic objectives as a country. This is not a discussion about either or. We’ve always argued that it is about the use of [energy] technologies to be complimentary.
“We are looking forward to participating in the process that will be led by the Minister [of Energy and Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa] to show that we can get to a point of making decisions very quickly. We cannot afford to wait any longer. We have fallen behind and we have an opportunity to catch up and we need to move with pace,” he said.
READ | Nuclear build will follow the science – Ramokgopa
Marokane emphasised that it is very important that government has a clear stance on the use of nuclear energy in the country’s ambitions to lower carbon emissions.
“What I would like to appreciate is the very clear government perspective on the strategy of nuclear and where it sits on the energy mix and its importance for us marching towards net zero targets.
“We exist within the global community and clearly there’ve been movements within the world…the world around has reawakened to the reality that [nuclear] is essentially an important component of baseload power generation going forward and us reducing emissions going forward.
“We have heard about the ambitions for nuclear on the continent, Egypt being quite advanced in this area. It would be sad of us to be overtaken having had so many years of operation…both from a perspective of skills and technical contribution to the continent and opportunities,” he said.
The GCE highlighted that the economic spinoffs from using nuclear energy are “quite huge”.
“For us as a country that is emerging out of the history that it has, the social inequalities that it has, this is an element that is going to contribute meaningfully for us. Our presence in the Western Cape has contributed immensely to the economic activities in the value chain.
“We have experienced quite tremendous positive spin offs from a green stability point of view with the Koeberg [Nuclear Power Station] units that are contributing…into the system. We have just…[installed] new steam generators so that we can have a life extension for the next 20 years.
“We will continue to look at the opportunities for exploiting this for even longer,” Marokane said. – SAnews.gov.za
Share this post:
Watch a SA must keep pace with international nuclear players related video:
MyPR.co.za offers free to publish press releases for your news site, blog or offline publication. Use the handy REPUBLISH facility or the Full Text RSS Feeds or just copy and paste.
Straton Electrical | Straton Solar | Straton Prepaid | Straton Plumbing | Straton IoT | Straton eBikes | BA Systems | Mbane Contracting | Reach Trust
Patton Digger
Melktert – milk tart. One of South Africa’s most popular desserts consisting of a sweet pastry crust and a creamy milk filling, topped with cinnamon powder. Absolutely delicious!
Wild Tesla
A South African, an Australian and an Englishman are all having a drink
The Englishman and South African both drink from Pint Glasses, the Australian from a bottle.
The South African, upon draining his glass, drops in back down on the bar, pulls out a pistol, and shoots the glass.
\”In South Africa, there is so much sand that I never drink from the same glass twice!\”
The Australian, having drained his bottle, sets it down upon the bar and, upon seizing the South African\’s pistol, shoots his bottle.
\”In Australia, there is so much booze that I never drink from the same brand twice!\”
The Englishman, likewise having drained his glass, sets his glass upon the table, seizes the pistol the pistol from the Australian, and shoots the South African and the Australian, quite dead.
\”In England, there are so many of you bastards that I never drink with the same two twice!\”