South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 is the only country in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 with a commercial nuclear power

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

 plantAs at 2011. and it currently has an expansion policy based upon the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR)

Pebble bed reactor

The pebble bed reactor is a graphite-moderated, gas-cooled, nuclear reactor. It is a type of very high temperature reactor , one of the six classes of nuclear reactors in the Generation IV initiative...

.

Two reactors located at the Koeberg nuclear power station

Koeberg nuclear power station

Koeberg nuclear power station is the only nuclear power station in South Africa and the entire African continent. It is located 30 km north of Cape Town, near Melkbosstrand on the west coast of South Africa. Koeberg is owned and operated by the country's only national electricity supplier, Eskom...

 accounts for around 5% of South Africa's electricity production. Spent fuel is disposed of at Vaalputs Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility in the Northern Cape

Northern Cape

The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...

.

Power company Eskom

Eskom

Eskom is a South African electricity public utility, established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission by the government of South Africa in terms of the Electricity Act . It was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie . The two acronyms were combined in 1986 and...

 plans to build 20 GW of nuclear power by 2025. The first plant with capacity of between 3,300 and 4,000 MW could be completed by 2017. Several groups, including Earthlife Africa

Earthlife Africa

Earthlife Africa is a South African environmental and anti-nuclear organization founded in August 1988, in Johannesburg. Initially conceived of as a South African version of Greenpeace, the group began by playing a radical, anti-apartheid, activist role. ELA is arguably now more of a reformist...

 and Koeberg Alert

Koeberg Alert

Koeberg Alert formed in 1983 and started out as a local campaign against South Africa's nuclear programme, in particular the construction of Koeberg Nuclear Power Station. Koeberg Alert is possibly the country's first activist green movement, apart from Nan Rice's Dolphin Action and Protection...

, oppose these measures.

The SAFARI-1

SAFARI-1

SAFARI-1 is a 20 MW research reactor, initially used for high level nuclear physics research programmes and was commissioned in 1965.The reactor is owned and operated by NECSA at their facility in Pelindaba, South Africa....

 tank in pool research reactor

Research reactor

Research reactors are nuclear reactors that serve primarily as a neutron source. They are also called non-power reactors, in contrast to power reactors that are used for electricity production, heat generation, or maritime propulsion.-Purpose:...

 is located at the Pelindaba

Pelindaba

Pelindaba is South Africa's main Nuclear Research Centre, run by The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, and was the location where South Africa's atomic bombs of the 1970s were developed, constructed and subsequently stored...

 nuclear research centre in Gauteng

Gauteng

Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...

See also

• South African nuclear program
  South African nuclear program
  As a member of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, South Africa uses nuclear science for peaceful means. The South African nuclear program includes both nuclear energy and nuclear medicine...
  
  
• South African Nuclear Energy Corporation
• List of power plants in South Africa#Nuclear
• List of nuclear reactors#South Africa