International investment opportunities for nuclear energy development are available, but South Africa must prepare and equip its industry to capitalise on these opportunities by learning from the mistakes and successes of others, says strategic consulting firm Izibani Consultancy founder Dr Yves Guenon.

Speaking after the 2025 World Nuclear Exhibition, which was held in November in Paris, France, he notes that the event was attended by many South African C-Suite executives and representatives – from small companies to large corporates.

“However, with more than 1 000 exhibitors from across the globe, and over 36 000 participants, it was a challenge to draw attention to the South African nuclear space.”

He adds that France boasts a significantly larger nuclear investment portfolio than many other countries, attributing this to France’s strong reliance on nuclear energy. 

He notes that South Africa could use France as a template to help balance renewable, nuclear and fossil fuel energy to improve its attractiveness to investors.

“Energy security in South Africa is unlikely to be achieved by renewables alone.” 

Plan of Action

Guenon tells Engineering News that although small modular reactors (SMRs) could be integrated into South Africa’s energy mix and used to replace parts of coal-fired plants, he believes that building conventional reactors will be more beneficial in the long run.

Being smaller, SMRs only produce up to 300 MW, compared to conventional reactors that can generate up to 1 700 MW.

There are also misconceptions around SMRs that should be debunked. 

“For example, the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) must do the same amount of work in terms of approvals and licences for the development of either solution,” he notes.

Guenon points out that the NNR’s processes help to regulate the safe use and storage of the fuel and, therefore, the size of the associated infrastructure will not necessarily change the approval processes.

Further, the exclusion zone and the number of staff for both small and large reactors are the same, as the dangers and health and safety aspects exist in parallel.

“Importantly, the price of an SMR development costs up to double per installed kilowatt, compared with that of a conventional reactor,” he states.

Guenon concurs with government's sentiment that nuclear energy production must be part of its energy mix, but “as usual, the problem in South Africa is implementation, although the Department of Electricity and Energy seems to be strong enough to manage it”.