This is according to Tom Blees, a global energy expert and environmental scientist. Speaking at the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa's (NIASA) roundtable discussions in Johannesburg, Blees said that the full range of electricity-generation sources - including nuclear power - must be deployed to replace coal and realistically meet the base-load power needs of an increasingly energy hungry world.
Blees is world-renowned for his balanced and pragmatic view of the energy needs of a modern world. While he acknowledges the role and importance of renewables, he is realistic about the technology's inability to support base-load power needs of modern societies.
"The contrast is starker for a country like South Africa that is focused on elevating the living standards of its people and the development of its infrastructure," said Blees, who is in South Africa as part of a nation-wide guest lecture series to highlight the benefits of nuclear power both to the economy and the environment.
"Nuclear power for a country like South Africa will and must play a critical role in the country's economic and social development. The building and development of nuclear power plants in South Africa will not only secure South Africa's energy future but generate thousands of jobs, develop a high specialised technical skill set and stimulate further interest in the sciences, generating a legacy of employment, skills development and science focused education," he added.
"Since hydroelectric power is near its maximum potential in many developed countries already (and the same environmentalists who promise an all-renewables future would be the first to protest at the building of any more dams), the bulk of the renewable energy will have to come from biomass, wind, and solar power. But biomass presents its own problems, and the intermittency and seasonality dependencies of wind and solar make these option extremely problematic," he explained.
He also has a view on pricing and production of nuclear and states that in his view advanced nuclear power systems are now designed so that they can be built like aeroplanes, mass-produced in modular form and then assembled on-site.
Blees believes that this will enable prices to fall to the point where economics, not to mention enhanced safety, can drive a global energy transformation to bring dependable, abundant, emission-free energy to everyone on the planet - and we're ready to do this now.
"Blees brings with him a global and pragmatic understanding of the benefits of nuclear power," Knox Msebenzi, managing director of NIASA, said. "He realises that without a growth in nuclear power in South Africa we will continue to face energy and climate challenges for decades to come. His insight and experience and the knowledge that he has shared while here in South Africa has made many people realise that nuclear energy must play an important part in our energy future."
