In a blow to South Africa’s plans to reduce reliance on cheap, polluting coal, the state electricity company said on Friday it could not afford to build a planned new nuclear power plant.
Eskom said it had ended the bidding process between the EPR consortium led by Areva of France and the N-Powerment consortium led by Westinghouse of the US because of the “magnitude of the investment.”
It was estimated that the pressurized water reactor would cost more than 100 billion rand (US$10 billion) — the largest single investment in Eskom’s history. Construction was due to start in late 2010 to complement the sole existing nuclear power station at Koeberg near Cape Town.
South Africa relies on its big domestic reserves of coal for nearly 90 percent of its energy needs, but is increasingly concerned at the environmental impact of this given that Africa is expected to bear the brunt of global warming.
Eskom and the government announced the nuclear expansion program last year at the height of crippling energy shortages which brought rolling blackouts to much of the country and temporarily closed the vital gold mining industry.
The government said it supported Eskom’s decision and that the projected fall in energy demand associated with the global downturn should ease supply pressure. It said it was still committed to exploring the use of nuclear energy to cut reliance on coal.
“Particularly in the context of the global financial crisis, we must be vigilant to ensure that Eskom does not overextend its balance sheet and that our ability to provide the economy with competitively priced energy is not jeopardized,” the government said.
International ratings agencies recently downgraded Eskom’s credit worthiness because of concern over the size of its planned borrowing to fund the nuclear plant and other infrastructure projects, expected to cost about 343 billion rand.
Eskom had hoped to meet some of the costs by electricity price hikes of more than 50 percent, but the government said the price increases must be limited to below 30 percent.
Eskom said it had already notified state-controlled Areva and Westinghouse, headquartered in Monroeville, Pennsylvania.
Environmentalists have argued that South Africa should rather invest in wind and solar energy given that its long coastline is regularly lashed by high winds and much of the country enjoys months of baking sun.
The country has just one wind farm near Cape Town, with four wind turbines — compared with 19,000 turbines in Germany. It lags far behind other countries in encouraging the use of solar power.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
BARRIER BLAME: An aviation expert questioned the location of a solid wall past the end of the runway, saying that it was ‘very bad luck for this particular airplane’ A team of US investigators, including representatives from Boeing, on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea, while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at Muan International Airport before it slammed into a barrier and burst into flames. The plane was seen having engine trouble.
RSS