The R300 billion allocated in the Budget for building new nuclear power plants is not the final amount for the project, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said on Tuesday.
“I think that the amount of money that has been allocated... for the nuclear build is not a thumb-suck, and we don't actually think that is the end amount, but we believe that it is the beginning,” she said.
Responding via video-link to questions posed during a media briefing in Cape Town, she declined to give further information on the specifications or tenders for the nuclear plants.
“I don't want to pre-empt the work of (the government's) nuclear energy co-ordinating committee,” Peters said.
The media would be kept informed once this information was available.
The government's integrated resource plan (IRP) aims to boost electricity base load in South Africa by scaling up the nuclear output to 9.6 Gigawatts.
According to the Treasury's 2012 Budget Review, tabled last week by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, the target date for achieving this is 2029.
According to the Review, the nuclear build project is “in the final stages of consideration before (a) financial proposal can be determined”. - Sapa