Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan has given the assurance that the government remains committed to South Africa's pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR) nuclear power programme.

Speaking to journalists after addressing the PBMR workshop on localisation opportunities, on Thursday, she also stated that the government believes that "time is of the essence" in developing nuclear energy in the country.

In her address, Hogan affirmed that, with the energy crisis, "there can be little doubt that nuclear is going to be one of the most important components" of the country's energy base in the future. Moreover, PBMR could provide the South African economy not only with electricity, but also other benefits, including clean-process heat.

Hogan highlighted that the PBMR Company is "home to the largest South African cluster of nuclear engineering and design skills" and that it has created the platform for a strong nuclear industrial base in the country.

"The government is gung ho about localisation", she asserted, adding that the country "could not afford" to import products and skills that could be produced in the country.

"South Africa has been one of the few countries which has not erected protectionist tariffs in this downturn. Instead, we should be looking at driving a localisation programme in the country."

She stated that one of the government's most important instruments in dealing with the current recession was infrastructure development, including energy infrastructure.

Hogan pointed out that a nuclear industry requires "functionalities which far exceed those of other industries" and that the PBMR project and company play "an extremely important role" in skills development in this country, highlighting that skills development was very important for both South Africa and for government policy.

Also, referring to the fact that, for many decades, the balance-of-payments "has always been our Achilles heel" she asserted that the PBMR was an ideal programme to increase the country's exports.

However, Hogan cautioned that the PBMR was a long-term project - "with energy, you have to talk 30, 50 years forward; with the PBMR, you cannot talk [just] ten, 15 years forward" - and that the short-term requirements of an economy in crisis "always play against long-term interests". She reported that she had discussed with the PBMR Company the need "to look at a paradigm which keeps long-term interests in the face of a short-term recession".

In her remarks to the media afterwards, Hogan reported that the "the government is working on the funding model for Eskom at the moment". National power utility Eskom will host the PBMR demonstration power plant at its Koeberg nuclear power station, near Cape Town, and is meant to be a major customer for the PBMR. She also clarified that while the PBMR Company, like Eskom, fell under her department, the development of energy policy was the responsibility of the Department of Energy.