Witbank in Mpumalanga could be a possible site for one of the country’s new nuclear power plants. This was according to Eskom’s chief nuclear officer Dave Nicholls.

Nicholls said the power utility was considering the expansion of nuclear power plants in the Witbank area as there is currently existing infrastructure.

Addressing delegates at the Nuclear Africa conference in Centurion, Nicholls said the first four units of the new nuclear build programme would be at Thyspunt. It was likely that another unit could also be built at Duynefontein in the Western Cape.

Eskom said it hoped the Department of Environmental Affairs will approve its environmental plan for Thyspunt by May or June this year.

Nicholls said Eskom intended selecting one nuclear vendor in order to avoid delays and technical problems in matching different technologies.

Eskom indicated that it plans to have selected a preferred bidder by early 2018 and hopes a contract will be signed by 2018/19.

Eskom recently announced its plan to shut down five coal-fired power plants over the next decade. Whether more of these plants will be used as the basis for new nuclear plants is still unknown.

The utility said its plan to close five mines was in an effort to foster green energy, especially after it had been tasked with nuclear procurement.

In a greater move towards renewable energy, 9,600MW of new nuclear power is on the cards for South Africa according to the Integrated Resource Plan 2010.

However, clouding Eskom’s expansion plans in Witbank are members from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) who have been protesting the closure programme of the utility’s mines.

The NUM said it was not convinced that renewable energy was the best option for South Africa and feared that the high cost of it would bankrupt Eskom.