10 Oct (NucNet): President Jacob Zuma of South Africa has authorised energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson to sign an agreement on the development of nuclear energy with France, the second such agreement the country has signed in recent weeks.
On 22 September 2014, South Africa announced it had signed an intergovernmental agreement with Russia that laid the foundations for the construction of up to eight new nuclear units.
No details were released of what the agreement of France will include, but a statement on Mr Zuma’s website said the details of the signing of the agreement will be discussed between the energy department and its counterparts in France.
According to the energy department, the government has promulgated plans for 9.6 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity, but the tender process has not begun.
South Africa has two commercially operational nuclear units at the Koeberg nuclear station. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the units account for about five percent of the country’s generated electricity.
