South Africa’s Nuclear Plans on Track

Nuclear energy offers one of the few solutions to the world’s predicament of cutting carbon dioxide emissions in half, while doubling energy production to cater for the growth of the developing world, according to Bertrand Barré, chairperson of the International Nuclear Energy Academy and scientific adviser to French nuclear firm Areva, here Wednesday.

Areva is one of the bidders to supply new nuclear power stations to South Africa’s national electricity supplier Eskom.

Addressing a business breakfast in Johannesburg on Wednesday, Barré said the energy sector stood at a crossroads between the needs of development and the constraints of the environment.

He said the key problem was that the world currently sourced 80% of its energy needs from fossil fuels in the form of oil, gas and coal.

Barré highlighted the surging demand for coal - in particular from China - which has been triggered by rising energy demands over the past five years, resulting in China’s annual coal production jumping from one billion tonnes in 2000 to current levels of 2.4 billion tonnes

“Coal is back and that is extremely damaging for the environment which is why CCS (carbon containment systems) must be implemented,” he said.

But Barré said three broad measures could provide the solution.

These were to reduce energy demand, particularly in the developed countries; generate more power without creating carbon dioxide which meant using more nuclear power and alternative sources such as wind power and to “sequester” the carbon dioxide emitted from coal and gas-fired stations through CCS.

He said that nuclear power was the most economic of the various generation options when it came to large, “base load” power stations although this was not the case when it came to meeting “peaking power” demands.

Source African Press Agency

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