Despite a high court ruling suspending the procurement process for South Africa’s proposed nuclear build, documents show that power utility Eskom is forging ahead with its plans regardless.<\/p>\n
The documents, reportedly seen by Fin24 and EE Publishing<\/a><\/strong>, show that, while procurement processes have stopped and are being relaunched, Eskom as a developer of the project has continued to aggressively chase a state of readiness to start construction.<\/p>\n One of the biggest plans is\u00a0to conduct research and develop a technical document on the components of a new nuclear power station that should “qualify for accelerated capital allowances”.<\/p>\n Eskom and South Africa’s plans to go nuclear for energy have been widely criticised by economists and analysts – and the proposal has been a black mark against the country from ratings agencies and global financiers.<\/p>\n The question of funding has been paramount, with the projected costs exceeding R1 trillion – a price point which South Africa cannot afford in any context.<\/p>\n The Eskom report itself makes mention of this, Fin24 said, stating that “the current government guarantees issued to Eskom does not provide for any investment in future capital expenditure beyond the current committed build programme.”<\/p>\n