Cabinet will receive a proposal stating that Eskom be the designated procurer for the new nuclear build programme, Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said while briefing Parliament’s energy portfolio committee.

She suggested that Eskom’s balance sheet be used to raise funds for the programme in the same way that the power utility funded its Medupi and Kusile plants.

The money to fund the nuclear programme will not come from Treasury therefore Eskom will have to request the help of outside funders to locate the required capital.

“There is no basket of money in Treasury that will be used for this programme,” Joemat-Pettersson said. “The balance sheet of Eskom will be used to leverage access to funding,” she added, and assured the committee that the programme would be transparent, above board and corruption-free.

The minister believes that Eskom has the required expertise to be involved in the new nuclear build programme having successfully operated the Koeberg nuclear plant for more than 30 years.

The minister noted that participation of community members was a key factor that was missing throughout the process. She said consultations were taking place with other departments and Eskom, which was why the request for proposals for the programme that was to be issued at the end of September was not yet released.

Joemat-Pettersson also said that the programme would be undertaken at the pace, scale and price that was accessible for South Africa and that consultations to determine those were under way.