physics

Nuclear power in South Africa

Nuclear power in South Africa is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nuclear power in South Africa rather than just read about it. In short: South Africa is the only country in Africa with a commercial nuclear power plant. The nuclear programme of South Africa is now primarily for power, although it has some medical uses and historically some nuclear weapon development.

Key takeaways

Nuclear power in South Africa belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nuclear power in South Africa to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nuclear power in South Africa from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

South Africa is the only country in Africa with a commercial nuclear power plant. The nuclear programme of South Africa is now primarily for power, although it has some medical uses and historically some nuclear weapon development. Two reactors located at the Koeberg nuclear power station account for around 5% of South Africa's electricity production. Spent fuel is disposed of at Vaalputs Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility in the Northern Cape. The SAFARI-1 tank in pool research reactor is located at the Pelindaba nuclear research centre in Gauteng.

New build

The 2010 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) envisaged building 9,600 MWe of new nuclear power capacity by building between six and eight new nuclear reactors by 2030, which would cost about R1 trillion. In 2016, an updated draft IRP was published which set a much lower and slower nuclear target, due to lower demand projections and increased capital cost. This updated IRP envisaged that the first new nuclear power plant would only need to be online by 2041. South Africa's 2019 Integrated Resource Plan plans a 20 year life-extension for Koeberg to 2044, and a delayed nuclear new build programme due to the "marginal cost of [nuclear] generation, in comparison to other options" with a scenario that may build new capacity after 2030. South Africa agreed to cooperate closely with the Russian state nuclear power company Rosatom on the development of new nuclear power plants in South Africa. One project was to cost US$76 billion, but has so far not been realized. In December 2023, the government announced it would invite nuclear vendor bids for 2500 MW of nuclear energy by 2032. In August 2024, then–Minister of Energy and Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa announced that the Ministerial Determination for the procurement of 2500 MWe of new nuclear capacity was withdrawn to allow for further public consultation, after legal challenges were made regarding the procedure for seeking public comments. In May 2025, Minister Ramogkopa stated that South Africa was seeking expertise from around the world to assist in affordably building nuclear capacity for the country, at scale. He further stated that, following studies done by the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA), South Africa plans to spend R60 billion on its nuclear build program. The minister said that the new program must have a capacity of at least 10 GW to be deemed credible by the country’s energy market. He said that the successful bidder would be from France, South Korea, the United States, China, or Russia, once experts had been consulted.

Corruption There was little concern about the cost of the endeavour, as well as the probability for corruption, due to the efficiency of transparency in the procurement processes and the regard of civic society. President at the time Jacob Zuma pushed ahead with plans to secure nuclear power. Russian President Vladimir Putin and the then South African President Jacob Zuma planned to embezzle billions of dollars from the nuclear power plant deal involving Russia’s state-owned company Rosatom. Former President Jacob Zuma sacked Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for blowing the whistle about corruption.

Legality Following the Public Protector's "State of Capture" report, which implicated him and Jacob Zuma in the peddling of state patronage, Brian Molefe resigned from his position as executive chief of Eskom on 1 January 2017. However, analysts noted that corruption at Eskom was deep-rooted and that Molefe's resignation would not resolve the nuclear question. In April 2017, Eskom requested that the Treasury department waive procurement regulations for the new nuclear plants, claiming that Eskom "had done a lot of the work prior" and that these efforts were adequate. The Democratic Alliance objected on the grounds that this would embark the state on its "single biggest public procurement without fully assessing associated risks and consequences for SA’s economy". On 26 April 2017, following a legal application by Earthlife Africa and the Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute, the Western Cape High Court declared that the South African government's new nuclear procurement processes had been unlawful because they had not followed due processes. The court noted that the National Energy Regulator, Parliament, and the Energy Minister must all be involved in the process. All of the subsequent existing contracts with Russia, the US, and South Korea were therefore found to be void.

Costs The R1 trillion cost of the proposed new nuclear project played a part in ratings downgrades by international credit ratings agencies. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who opposed new nuclear installations on the grounds of the steep cost, was replaced by Malusi Gigaba in March 2017. Gigaba is responsible for filling the vacancy of chief procurement officer at the Treasury, which would make decisions about procurement processes regarding the new nuclear project.

Life extension of Koeberg In January 2018, Eskom's acting Chief Financial Officer stated that the company cannot afford a new nuclear build, following a 34% drop in interim profits due to declining sales and increasing financing costs. The government stated it will proceed with the plan but more slowly. The draft 2018 IRP does not call for new nuclear power, partly due to declining electricity demand, forecast 30% lower than in the previous IRP. South Africa's 2019 Integrated Resource Plan plans a 20 year life-extension for Koeberg to 2044, and a delayed nuclear new build programme due to the "marginal cost of [nuclear] generation, in comparison to other options" with a scenario that may build new capacity after 2030. Small modular reactors may become an attractive option, dependent on earlier demonstration elsewhere in the world. In July 2024, the month Unit 1's license to operate was set to expire, South Africa's National Nuclear Regulator granted Eskom an operating license to operate Unit 1 at Koeberg until July 2044. A decision on Unit 2 was deferred. On 30 December 2024, Eskom successfully synchronized Unit 2 of the Koeberg nuclear power station in Cape Town to the national grid. The National Nuclear Regulator is expected to decide on the extension of Unit 2’s operational license in 2025.

Small modular reactors

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nuclear power in South Africa

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nuclear power in South Africa claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nuclear power in South Africa before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nuclear power in South Africa ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nuclear power in South Africa

In research: Nuclear power in South Africa appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nuclear power in South Africa in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nuclear power in South Africa is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Nuclear power in South Africa, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nuclear power in South Africa outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nuclear power in South Africa in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nuclear power in South Africa means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Nuclear power in South Africa out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nuclear power in South Africa in simple terms?

Why does Nuclear power in South Africa matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nuclear power in South Africa?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nuclear power in South Africa.