{"id":23842,"date":"2025-07-23T14:35:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T12:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.necsa.co.za\/?p=23842"},"modified":"2025-07-23T14:35:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T12:35:45","slug":"necsa-is-positioning-itself-to-support-south-africas-future-nuclear-energy-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.godirect.co.za\/powerlegal\/necsa-is-positioning-itself-to-support-south-africas-future-nuclear-energy-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"Necsa is positioning itself to support South Africa\u2019s future nuclear energy programme"},"content":{"rendered":"

Web Link<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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23rd May 2025<\/p>\n

By: Rebecca Campbell <\/a><\/p>\n

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The South African Nuclear<\/a> Energy<\/a> Corporation (Necsa) supports the country adopting small modular<\/a> reactors (SMRs) and believes that it can play a key role in this process. So affirms Necsa group executive: power<\/a> and industry Sengiphile Simelane<\/strong>, in an exclusive interview with Engineering<\/a> News<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Necsa is mandated to conduct research in the sphere of nuclear<\/a> energy<\/a>. Based at Pelindaba, west of Pretoria, Necsa owns and operates the SAFARI-1 research reactor, which is used for both research and the production of radioisotopes (for industrial<\/a> but especially medical use).<\/p>\n

\u201cNecsa believes that the first South African SMR should be built at Pelindaba,\u201d he says. \u201cThe first example should be for energy<\/a> production. If it\u2019s built at Pelindaba, this will allow Necsa to gain expertise in SMRs and help the subsequent roll-out of further SMRs, which could be used to replace the country\u2019s ageing coal<\/a>-fired power<\/a> stations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, Necsa is interested in the use of SMRs for non-energy<\/a> purposes. These could include the production of process heat, for industrial<\/a> purposes, and desalination. Notably, process heat from SMRs could be used for the production of clean hydrogen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a really interesting application, really promising,\u201d he opines. \u201cIt would be better to use SMRs to produce hydrogen, and not use renewables.\u201d<\/p>\n

The corporation is making certain that, when the government makes its decisions on the future of the country\u2019s nuclear<\/a> sector, it will be ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are waiting for the new Integrated Resource Plan,\u201d he notes. \u201cWe are hoping that it\u2019ll have a big nuclear<\/a> power<\/a> component, including both SMRs and large conventional nuclear<\/a> power<\/a> plants (NPPs).\u201d<\/p>\n

With the government planning a new nuclear<\/a> build programme, this raises the issue of fuel for the new NPPs. Necsa, which has past experience in producing nuclear<\/a> fuel, is positioning itself to be able to provide fuel for the future NPP fleet.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Necsa has been supporting national electricity utility Eskom<\/a>, which owns and operates the country\u2019s only NPP, at Koeberg, near Cape Town, with professional nuclear<\/a> services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thus, Necsa has provided assistance for the Koeberg long-term operation programme, which will extend the NPP\u2019s operating life by 20 years. (The life extension of Koeberg\u2019s first reactor has received regulatory approval; the second reactor is now going through this process.) For example, Necsa has been providing assistance in removing old equipment<\/a> from the NPP, which is being replaced by new equipment<\/a>. Necsa is also responsible for the safe disposal of the old equipment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough our advanced manufacturing<\/a> capabilities, we are also assisting Eskom<\/a> by manufacturing<\/a> specialised equipment<\/a>,\u201d highlights Simelane. \u201cWe\u2019re the only ASME III [nuclear<\/a>] certified company in the country, and in Africa<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Necsa is currently manufacturing<\/a> pipes<\/a> for Koeberg, to the even higher standards introduced after the nuclear<\/a> accident in Fukushima, Japan. These are part of a programme to upgrade Koeberg to the new post-Fukushima NPP standard.<\/p>\n

\u201cNecsa also plays a key role in developing nuclear<\/a> skills in the country, through the Necsa Learning Academy,\u201d he concludes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Web Link 23rd May 2025 By: Rebecca Campbell Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) supports the country adopting small modular reactors (SMRs) and believes that it can play a key role in this process. So affirms Necsa group executive: power and industry Sengiphile Simelane, in an exclusive interview with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-necsa-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.godirect.co.za\/powerlegal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.godirect.co.za\/powerlegal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.godirect.co.za\/powerlegal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.godirect.co.za\/powerlegal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.godirect.co.za\/powerlegal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.godirect.co.za\/powerlegal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23842\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.godirect.co.za\/powerlegal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.godirect.co.za\/powerlegal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.godirect.co.za\/powerlegal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}