Nuclear energy is no longer the villian

South Africans have a knack for not letting a good crisis go to waste.

Six years ago, while grappling with the external threat of COVID-19, we also faced an internal, self-inflicted threat of up to eight hours of load-shedding per day. Today, the South African electricity sector is transitioning from a vertically integrated, predominantly state-owned model to a more diversified and competitive market structure. The sector now offers an eclectic array of energy solutions from many providers, primarily in the private sector.

Solutions such as renewable energy, battery energy storage, private generation and nuclear continue to drive new investment across the sector. The recently published WOW report, The Generation of Electricity in South Africa, discusses the growing adoption of wheeling arrangements, virtual wheeling, corporate power purchase agreements and embedded generation, which together offer a more diverse and decentralised electricity supply landscape.

The 2025 Integrated Resource Plan envisages adding 5.2 GW of nuclear generation capacity by 2039, increasing South Africa’s total nuclear capacity to around 7 GW when combined with Koeberg’s existing 1.8 GW. The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) expects to identify a development partner for a demonstration small modular reactor (SMR) by mid-2027. While the project will draw on the original Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) concept, it will not use the original reactor design. The PBMR programme, mothballed in 2009, was transferred from Eskom to Necsa following its reactivation in November 2025.

In August 2025, then Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Dion George upheld Eskom’s environmental authorisation to construct and operate a 4,000 MW nuclear power station at Duynefontein, adjacent to the existing Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in the Western Cape.

South African nuclear technology company Next Gen Nuclear proposes developing a nuclear manufacturing hub at Saldanha Bay, leveraging local mineral resources, industrial capabilities, and port infrastructure to produce certified nuclear-grade products for domestic and international markets. If successful, the initiative could support industrial development, localisation and export opportunities across the broader nuclear value chain.

Perhaps in the foreseeable future we will have a nuclear reactor in our homes, the size of an inverter, and power outages will be a distant memory?

On a different note, the following table, showing South Africa’s largest employers (extracted from WOWEB), suggests the growing importance of consumer-driven sectors in supporting employment and economic activity.