Speaking during a media briefing on Sunday, Ramokgipa said the move marks a major shift in SA\u2019s ability to re-enter the nuclear fuel cycle and unlock both domestic and commercial opportunities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cSA is going back to its rightful place as a major player on the nuclear fuel cycle, and we are confident that over a period of time, we\u2019ll be a dominant and indispensable player on the nuclear side,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ramokgopa explained that the decision enables the reopening of fuel development laboratories for research and development, positioning SA to benefit from the rapid global growth of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are over 80% of SMRs that are at differing stages of development. We know that it\u2019s only one country that is a supplier of this fuel. With the exponential rise of SMRs, and with the introduction of the work that we are doing, we are going to be another player in that space,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Last month, Ramokgopa released the Integrated Resource Plan 2025, which outlines plans to install 5200MW of new nuclear capacity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He said nuclear energy will be central to addressing Africa\u2019s electricity deficit, advancing industrialisation, and supporting the beneficiation of critical minerals needed for global decarbonisation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a country, we are not going to be left behind. We have built a body of knowledge over time\u2026and once we\u2019ve lifted this care and maintenance, we are confident that the engineers that we invested in will come back, and working with universities, we are going to build a pipeline of nuclear scientists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ramokgopa also highlighted Duynefontein, adjacent to the existing Koeberg plant, as one of the approved locations for the new nuclear build.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cA major decision was taken by the Department of Forestry and Environment\u2026we were granted the Environmental Impact Assessment for the site that we had identified for the new nuclear build, and that is Duynefontein. When we initiate this new build, at least 2 400MW of nuclear energy can be deployed. We are also able to demonstrate that now there\u2019s a site that is fully permitted for us to roll out the nuclear build programme,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13424,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-15445","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South Africa's (SA) Minister of Energy and Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says Cabinet\u2019s decision to lift the state-of-care maintenance on the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) will restore the country to its \u201crightful place\u201d as a global leader in nuclear innovation.","published_date":null,"news_description":"South Africa's (SA) Minister of Energy and Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says Cabinet\u2019s decision to lift the state-of-care maintenance on the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) will restore the country to its \u201crightful place\u201d as a global leader in nuclear innovation.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19680,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15445\/revisions\/19680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=15445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}