Cabinet has approved South Africa’s nuclear energy policy, clearing the way for the country’s planned big nuclear drive, it said.

The policy would allow South Africa to diversify its primary energy sources, and move away from an over- reliance on coal for electricity generation, which accounts for over 90% of the country’s power generation.

This contributed to South Africa being among the highest emitters of greenhouse gases, government said in a statement.

The Department of Minerals and Energy was finalising an implementation plan in con- sultation with key stakeholders, it added.

The approval of the policy came after public comments that had been submitted since it was published in August 2007.

State-owned power utility Eskom has plans to build as many as five large nuclear power stations in South Africa by 2025, by which time it wants to generate about one-quarter of the country’s power from nuclear energy.

The country currently has only one nuclear power station, at Koeberg, in the Western Cape.

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