SA to hold second nuclear vendor parade
PRETORIA: South Africa is to hold its second nuclear vendor parade this month with four other countries.
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"The second nuclear vendor workshop will be held during the course of November 2014, and will be with the following vendor countries; China, France, the United States of America and South Korea," said the Department of Energy on Friday, 14 November.
It added that these countries had confirmed their readiness to participate.
South Africa's nuclear energy policy was approved in 2008 and was further enhanced by the approval of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2010 - 2030, which stipulates that nuclear power will form part of the country's energy mix to a level of 9,600MW.
The department said progress is being made with the engagement of various prospective nuclear vendor countries.
The nuclear vendor parade workshops entail vendor countries presenting their nuclear technology offerings.
"The National Development Plan enjoins us to do thorough investigations on various aspects of the nuclear power generation programme before a procurement decision is taken. The vendor parade workshops form part of the government technical investigation in preparation for a procurement decision," said the department.
The department has planned to hold nuclear vendor parade workshops with all the vendor countries that are ready and have accepted the invitation to participate.
South Africa has already held one workshop which was held in October with Russia.
"The platform is created for vendor countries to showcase and demonstrate their capabilities on how, if chosen, they plan to meet South Africa's needs."
Government officials from different departments as well as state-owned enterprises related to energy matters will once again attend the workshop.
"Government remains committed to ensure energy security for the country, through the roll out of the nuclear new build programme as an integral part of the energy mix. Government remains committed to ensuring the provision of reliable and sustainable electricity supply, as part of mitigating the risk of carbon emissions."
The nuclear new build programme will enable the country to create jobs, develop skills, create industries, and catapult the country into a knowledge economy.
Government, the department said, is set to continue to hold nuclear vendor parade workshops as part of the process towards the implementation of the expansion in the nuclear new build programme.
