How do you feel about the possible expansion of nuclear stations?
Category News
How do you feel about the possible expansion of nuclear stations?
When the topic of green energy comes up in conversation we often think of solar panels, wind turbines, and hydropower. And while those are indeed prime examples of sustainable producers of energy, there is often one other clean power source we tend to overlook - nuclear energy.
Recently, South Africa's national energy regulator, Nersa, has approved plans for a new power station in the Eastern Cape. The Department of Energy estimates that this new power station, which will derive its energy production through nuclear power, will add about 2500kw of energy to the grid.
Is nuclear energy safe?
It goes without saying that the use of nuclear energy is definitely a contentious issue. Yet the reality is that nuclear energy is a zero-emissions energy source that produces cheap and efficient power without causing long-term environmental damage.
The energy production process is rather simple. Nuclear Reactors produce steam, steam powers turbines, and turbines generate electricity. The reactors produce heat (a lot of it) through the process known as nuclear fission.
Steam, rather than the chemicals produced via the burning of fossil fuels, is the only by-product of nuclear fission. This means that almost every year, thousands of megawatts of energy could be produced without harmful air pollutants that contribute to growing cases of lung and heart disease.
Nuclear energy also produces minimal waste. The fuel needed to produce fission is an extremely heavy element known as Uranium. Because it's extremely dense (millions of times denser than fossil fuels) and takes almost decades to burn through, there is a much longer wait for waste to materialise.
However, although spent fuel rods can be reused by more advanced reactors and nuclear energy itself is considered renewable. The uranium fuel itself is not. The radioactive byproduct needs to be securely stored and contained since the decaying process (also known as half-life) takes 4.5 billion years.
The details behind the plan.
National energy provider, Eskom, is hoping to move forward with plans to have a nuclear power plant built within the Eastern Cape town of Thyspunt. This is after the National Nuclear Regulator received applications for a Nuclear Installation Site License (NISL) from the energy company early this year.
Following this, public hearings were scheduled in the towns of Jeffrey's Bay and St Francis Bay (due to their proximity to Thyspunt) at the end of August. These hearings were held in order to get a better understanding of the public mood towards the idea of using nuclear power.
Although most residents seem warm to the idea due to the fact that it will boost the Eastern Cape economy, environmental activists take a different view. They are hoping that the proximity to the plant does not affect the local biodiversity and tourism.
They are also concerned with Eskom's general approach to management, or lack thereof, and claim that Chernobyl scale disasters are inevitable due to this. They are demanding that Nersa deny the license to Eskom.
The infamous 1986 meltdown of Reactor Four at Chernobyl in Pripyat, Ukraine was largely due to incompetence and corruption within management. The Soviet Union demanded that results were met at the cost of cutting corners and present-day activists are concerned with the similarities Eskom shares.
Today, the entire city, once home to 50,000 people, remains derelict and abandoned due to the fallout. Pripyat stands as a monument to the dangers of nuclear catastrophe.
Assuaging tensions
Eskom representatives have assured residents and stakeholders that the location in Thyspunt was chosen bearing these concerns in mind and would not have moved forward with the plan if they were not confident in this decision. They point to research conducted by independent scientists and other environmental groups that support their move.
"Eskom has decades of environmental, seismic, and marine data," explains Des Muller of the South African Nuclear Build Platform. "Many public consultation processes and EIAs found no fatal flaws for the development of a nuclear power plant on the site... extensive local community development programs are key."
Thyspunt has been on the books for nuclear power since 1985 as the preferable site alongside other possible locations such as Duynefontein and Bantamsklip over the border in the Western Cape.
South Africa is also no stranger to Nuclear Power. Eskom points to their management of Koeberg in Western Cape as the bulwark of their nuclear strategy. They have brushed off accusations of dropping the ball on management and state that, within relation to nuclear energy, they are entirely unfounded.
Outcomes
While on the books nuclear fission is definitely a cleaner more efficient form of producing power, concerns surrounding its implementation are largely focused on Eskom's perceived inability to perform as opposed to nuclear disasters.
One way or the other, the final decision rests with Nersa, and they have yet to make a final ruling.
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Author: LV Digital
