S. Africa looks to more nuclear power

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 31 South Africa's energy firm Eskom is looking to boost nuclear power capacity to 30 percent of total electricity supply, as demand continues to grow.

The country's lone nuclear power plant in Koeberg, near Cape Town, powers 1,842 megawatts, which is 6 percent of South Africa's total electricity.

But Eskom is releasing information on an environmental impact statement and calling for public comment on a planned 4,000 megawatt nuclear plant to be built at one of five potential coastal cities, reports World Nuclear News, a service of the World Nuclear Association.

Eskom wants to generate 30 percent of the country's electric supply by adding 20,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity by 2037.

To do so would mean an investment in the country's electricity grid. Right now it is weary just delivering power to a portion of the country; an additional 300,000 homes are connected each year. Much of the electricity comes from coal. But there are plans to double the grid's capacity by 2020.

Construction of the new plant could start in two years. It would use Eskom's pressurized water reactors. South Africa is also pioneering a potential smaller reactor, the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor, which allows for nuclear energy that fits into smaller electricity grids. That technology has not been fully developed yet, and is behind schedule.

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