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On 17 March 2011, South Africa approved its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2010) for the energy sector. The plan outlined the government’s strategy for electricity generation in the country to 2030, and included the building of an estimated six new nuclear power plants.

The Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University was quick to take up the challenge, with the establishment of the country's only Nuclear Engineering department, which forms part of the School of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering. At present they are training only post graduate students, preferably with a background in physics, mathematics or engineering.

“We are now pleased to announce that the Department of Science and Technology (DST) granted us the SARChI Chair in Nuclear Engineering so that we could carry out research, and perhaps more importantly, develop the human capital that we need in order to run an effective and safe nuclear energy sector,” explained Dr Vishnu Naicker. The grant is to the value of R12.5 million, and will be spent over the next 5 years.

“Some people are afraid of nuclear energy, but if it is properly managed it is clean, efficient and safe,” he said.

At present, South Africa has enough coal to supply its energy needs well into the future, but energy derived from coal has high carbon implications, which is why the IRP 2010 includes the establishment of renewable and nuclear energy sources. The plan is for a new nuclear generator to be built every 18 months, starting in 2022.

“By that time we need to have a skilled workforce to manage and maintain the plants,” Dr Naicker said.

The department is forging ties on an academic level with NECSA and  Eskom. It also hopes to build ties with the  National Nuclear Regulator (NNR).

“We are not aiming to design next generation nuclear plants or undertake sophisticated fundamental  nuclear research,” Dr Naicker explained. ‘Neither is it our intent to run routine operational calculations. Our emphasis is on analysis and research with codes that are vital for the smooth operation of the plants and for safety analysis.” The work that NWU is doing with Koeberg/Eskom is already bearing fruit. 

The department is also working on a number of international collaborations.

The NRF recently awarded a research grant to the SARChI Chair in Nuclear Engineering as part of the South Africa/South Korea intergovernmental research cooperation programme.  The research project entitled "KAERI-NWU Joint Research Collaboration in the System Analysis of the Passive Safe Small Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor" will run for a three year period from August 2012 to July 2015.  The project will focus on the development of the very high temperature reactor (VHTR) design and analysis technology via thermal-fluid system simulation and inter code comparisons. 

The research group is also collaborating with the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA and the EU Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU) of the Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy on the development of gas centrifuge uranium enrichment cascade models and related techniques. This address various problems associated with safeguards designed to prevent the diversion or use of nuclear materials prohibited by law or international treaty, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). 

The research group also forms part of the South Africa ARCHER project team together with the NWU Nuclear Policy and Business Studies Research Group and the School of Chemical and Minerals Engineering.  The SA ARCHER project is funded by the DST and runs from July 2012 to July 2013.  The purpose of the project is to evaluate the economic viability of a Nuclear Coal-To-Liquids (NCTL) production plant such the existing SASOL Secunda Coal-To-Liquids plant but with a high temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor (HTR) as the heat source, rather than coal-fired boilers.