Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Dr Neil Overy is an environmental researcher, writer and photographer. He has worked in the non-profit sector for more than 20 years and is particularly interested in the intersection between environmental and social justice issues. He recently completed a master of philosophy degree in environmental humanities south at the University of Cape Town.
It would be remiss of South Africa to ignore the parallels between Koeberg’s conception and the extension to the nuclear power station’s operating life being planned today.
The build cost overran radically and Trevor Manuel said in 1994 that South Africa could ‘never justify’ the billions wasted on nuclear, but the government seems to have forgotten this.
Archives show that then, as today, a small group of people are willing to risk a major nuclear accident at the power station despite the fallout we now know would be devastating.
Apartheid ideology determined who could live and work around the nuclear power station. It’s something to think about as the government moves to extend the life of the plant.
The Koeberg site was selected for economic rather than safety reasons. But the population has grown and the government would do well to consider this before extending the life of the plant.
The energy minister continues to sing the same old song. More concerning is the petroleum agency’s authoritarian stance despite the environmental issues being interrogated in court.
Intent on extending Koeberg’s life, Gwede Mantashe has silenced the project’s opposing voice. It is time to remove the National Nuclear Regulator from the minister’s control.
South Africa’s energy minister has been exhorting African states to develop their oil and gas reserves while ignoring the historical realities, and future impacts, of doing so.
Concerns have been expressed about staff turnover at the ageing facility. Instead of extending its lifespan, renewable energy should replace it.
Many of SA’s environmental and economic problems stem from dependence on the minerals-energy complex. The president, being a beneficiary of this system, might not care to effect change.
In the second of this two-part series, evidence before the state capture inquiry makes it clear that South Africans will shoulder the real cost of adding nuclear generation to the energy mix.
In the first of this two-part series, evidence before the state capture inquiry shows how the multibillion-rand deal went ahead despite warnings about the exorbitant cost and danger to health.
The final part of this four-part story outlines the futility of storing waste with radioactive time frames, arguing that nuclear energy should be abandoned in favour of renewables.
This third instalment of a four-part story looks at the dangers of keeping high-level waste at nuclear facilities as well as the risks involved in making temporary solutions permanent.
This second of a four-part story details the shambles at the National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute, which is yet to begin work on its mandate, despite spending millions.
Part one of this four-part story considers the imminent danger involved in storing used radioactive materials, a dilemma growing at a rate of more than 32 tonnes a year.
This online visual project examines how landscapes, humans, plant and animal species as well as objects exist in relationship to the Koeberg nuclear power station and Cape Town.
The last in this three-part series looks at the cost of nuclear waste disposal, decommissioning power plants and accident clean-ups, and suggests a logical energy-generation alternative for the continent.
The second in this three-part series looks at how power purchase agreements raise the cost of electricity for consumers and act as major sources of inflationary pressure in economies.
The first in this three-part series looks at the cost of nuclear power and how vendors minimise their financial risk by maximising profits through power purchase agreements with governments.
The ever-increasing capitalist onslaught on protected environments will be stopped only if we fundamentally change the way we conceptualise their value and purpose.