Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (Niasa) president Dr Rob Adam said on Wednesday that investment in nuclear power would not only ease South Africa’s energy shortage, but would also allow for significant job creation.

Adam, who is also Necsa CEO, delivered a keynote speech on behalf of Energy Minister Dipuo Peters at the Nuclear Industry Localisation Conference (NILC) in Cape Town. He said that nuclear would remain a large part of the Integrated Resources Plan (IRP), which sets out South Africa’s energy mix over 20 years.

The country’s intention to invest in nuclear power is “extremely positive” for the nuclear industry, said World Nuclear Association director of trade and transport Serge Gorlin.

He highlighted the current state of nuclear programmes and build plans around the world, following the crisis at the earthquake- and tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan.

Germany is currently the only country to have taken the drastic step of completely closing its nuclear programme, with decommissioning of all its nuclear plants to be completed by 2022. Switzerland, while not closing its nuclear energy programme, has also been cautious and will not be replacing three units that have come to the end of their life cycle, Gorlin said.

He added that other countries with established nuclear programmes, such as the UK and the US, were reviewing their existing nuclear plans, but have not fundamentally altered their stance towards nuclear energy generation. Developing countries, such as India and South Korea, were still pursuing growing nuclear energy programmes.

During the question and answer session after Gorlin’s presentation, concern was expressed by participants at the conference over the public perception of nuclear power, which threatened to undermine nuclear growth. Gorlin admitted that at any time “the threat that hangs over nuclear is that governments will change colour and decide not to pursue a nuclear programme”.

The IRP anticipates that 22.6%, or 9 600 MW, of new generation capacity would be derived from nuclear. However, Peters said in her Budget vote speech last week that the country’s approach would be a “cautious” one, following the Japan nuclear crisis.

The NILC is an initiative of Niasa to inform the local industry of opportunities in the nuclear build programme and also to expose them to international nuclear experience.