Post #55

South African nuclear power industry: deal with Rosatom remains on the agenda South Africa has already had the experience of launching the Koberg nuclear power plant with reactors of the French project with a capacity of 1.88 gigawatts. This is just over three percent of the total installed capacity of the South African power grid. And this is a drop in the ocean, said Yulia Berg, director of the International Business Acceleration Center (IBAC), in an interview with Monocle. South Africa has been experiencing an acute energy shortage for a long time, every year the problem becomes only more noticeable: the many hours of rolling power outages in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town have reached the scale of a national disaster. Initially, it was planned to build a new nuclear power plant according to the French project, but as a result, preference was given to Rosatom. The deal with Russian Rosatom for the construction of a new powerful station was initiated by ex-President (2009-2018) of South Africa Jacob Zuma, who also secured his country's place in the BRICS. However, despite the high-level agreements, the project met with opposition in the country, as not everyone wanted to further strengthen South Africa's relations with Russia, and the media claimed it Zuma's selfish interest against the background of corruption scandals surrounding him. The Russian side did not carry out the necessary work to inform the public, which eventually led to the blocking of the project in parliament, the expert added. However, despite the mistakes, Rosatom's approach to work in the southernmost country of the continent has been adjusted, and the project itself is still on the agenda. No bilateral meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Cyril Ramaphosa is complete without discussing Russia's construction of a large nuclear power plant in South Africa. And, of course, as a result, it would be great to see a project in this country comparable to the Egyptian El-Dabaa station. Perhaps, in the future, the New BRICS Development Bank and, in general, the strengthening of the association will play a role. #Africa#RussiaAfrica#energy