After the Japanese nuclear disaster grabbed headlines around the world, South African Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said on Wednesday she was satisfied with the Koeberg nuclear plant’s readiness for emergencies.

Peters said that South Africa’s National Nuclear Regulator had indicated that the design structure of the nuclear power station near Cape Town provided a “reasonable” assurance of its ability to withstand external events such as earthquakes and tidal waves of a plausible magnitude.

A disaster management plan has been developed for Koeberg and is tested every other year to ensure its readiness in the event of an accident. The last of these exercises was done at the end of November. “I am therefore satisfied at the level of readiness to deal with emergencies at Koeberg,” Peters said during her visit to the plant.

Currently, a review of nuclear safety features and back-up power systems is being undertaken in different parts of the world to check the ability of the reactors to withstand the impact of big natural disasters.

However, this does not necessarily translate to a rethink of the policy of building nuclear power stations.

Peters said that South Africa must be ready to increase its coal capacity in the second Integrated Resource Plan (IRP2010) and to also invest in safer and cleaner technologies for both nuclear and coal.

The IRP2010 is expected to be promulgated on April 1.