South Africa will announce a decision on its nuclear energy plans before the end of the year, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said on Thursday, adding that she had signed off a proposal, which would go before Cabinet soon.

Peters said that the documentation contained “well thought out” nuclear plans for South Africa, with a strong focus on safety and environment, as well as the localisation and job creation opportunities for the country.

Peters noted that South Africa was set to start a nuclear bidding process in April this year, but that it was halted when concerns over the safety of nuclear power arose after the nuclear power disaster at Fukushima in Japan. Cabinet insisted that the Department of Energy thoroughly research and reconsider nuclear power.

“After Fukushima we were sent back to the drawing board,” said Peters, noting that she visited various nuclear plants worldwide, as well as the International Atomic Agency in efforts to better understand the technology.

She said that it was likely that the nuclear bidding process would start in 2012, and that the first power from new nuclear plants in South Africa would come on line in 2024 or 2025.

This was slightly later than the initial estimation of 2023, because of the delays experienced owing to the safety concerns.

She added that the delay in nuclear power coming on line was compensated for by the additional renewable energy that was requested in the first round of bidding in the renewables process. The renewable energy allocation sought by government increased from 1 025 MW, to 3 725 MW of capacity by 2016.

She stressed that because of safety and environmental concerns, private companies could not develop nuclear power on their own, and that the State, through the utility Eskom, would control the plant.

She said that Eskom had a good track record of operating a nuclear plant through its experience at Koeberg in the Western Cape.

Nuclear power equipment vendors have been eagerly awaiting the announcement on when South Africa might start the bidding process for new nuclear capacity.