The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) expects to identify a partner within the next year for a planned demonstration small modular reactor (SMR), as it steps up efforts to revive local nuclear technology development and expand the country’s future nuclear generation capacity.
CEO Loyiso Tyabashe said at the Africa Energy Forum in Cape Town on Tuesday that Necsa had already issued an expression of interest to the market and hoped to select a development partner “by this time next year”.
The demonstration reactor forms part of South Africa’s longer-term nuclear ambitions and is intended to showcase SMR technology that could eventually be deployed more widely across the country and the African continent.
The Integrated Resource Plan 2025 (IRP) envisages an additional 5 200 MW of nuclear generation capacity, which together with the existing Koeberg nuclear power station would take South Africa’s nuclear fleet to about 7 000 MW by 2039.
The planned demonstration SMR is expected to play a role in that future build programme.
