The Ministerial Determination for the procurement of 2 500MW of nuclear energy has been withdrawn, Cape {town} Etc reports.
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Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, the minister of Energy and Electricity, announced this last week after the determination came under legal pressure. The determination and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa) approval of the process faced legal challenges. Critics argued that the process lacked fairness and failed to seek public comments.
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‘I have taken the decision…to withdraw the gazette to allow for that public participation to happen,’ he said.
‘The only time we got to know and be alerted that the process was not subjected to a public consultation process is when the (court) papers were filed and the Minister took the decision that we are withdrawing the gazette; we allow for that public participation so that the process is clean…and transparent.’
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The minister announced the project in December last year, stating that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) had to ‘satisfy a raft of rigorous National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) suspensive conditions, which took into account various factors before the go-ahead could be issued’.
However, the process will now be delayed as a result of the withdrawal.
‘Of course, there’s a penalty you pay as a result of this decision [in] that you are delaying the process. But we are happy to delay the process so that we are able to allow for each and every party in the country that wants to add a voice in how we are going to procure this process for them to be given the opportunity to be able to make that submission.’
‘So it will add another three to six months in the process. We are happy to do that for as long as we protect the integrity of the process; for as long as we cement the transparency of the process so that there’s general public confidence in the work that we are doing.’
Ramokgopa reiterated the department’s commitment to ‘preserve the integrity of any procurement process’, including the nuclear procurement process, ‘…especially given its checkered history’.
The project will remain a government plan for the future, which forms part of its Integrated Resource Plan 2019’s envisaged energy mix for South Africa.
‘Nuclear is part of the mix. Nuclear is part of the future but it’s important that as we go out…the procurement process must be able to stand the test of time. In this instance, it’s the ability to be able to subject itself to scrutiny.’
‘Let’s go back to that process; accord the public an opportunity to scrutinise, respond and then on the basis of that [Nersa] can make a determination on concurrence. Once we receive that, we’ll issue the gazette and ensure that we procure.’
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