Tuesday, February 16, 2010.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon de Ryhove.

Making headlines today:

Stratek Business Strategy Consulting CEO Dr Kelvin Kemm said on Tuesday at the Prospects of Nuclear Expansion in South Africa conference, that it was in South Africa's interest that its neighbours in the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) region expand their electricity supply.

He said that the SAPP member countries had agreements to support and supply each other with electricity during unplanned electricity outages.

However, given that South Africa produced 80,4% of the region's electricity, none of these countries would be able to assist South Africa in its energy needs should large-scale unplanned outages occur.

Kemm suggested that a number of small nuclear reactors, such as pebble-bed modular reactors could be a solution for the SAPP region, as well as Africa's energy needs.

While South Africa was likely to see gross domestic product growth of about 2,7% this year and 3,5% in 2011, the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) has warned that the global economy could suffer a growth relapse at the end of this year or early in 2011.

In a quarterly economic prospects report, the BER pointed out that South Africa's GDP had grown by an estimated 2,5 to 3% in the last quarter of 2009.

Despite this growth, as well as the 0,9% growth achieved in the third quarter, GDP for the full year would have contracted by nearly 2%.

Nevertheless, an improved view on net exports has led to an expected growth of 2,7% for 2010, despite weaker consumer spending and fixed investment forecasts.

Also making headlines:

The second version of South Africa's Industrial Policy Action Plan will include specific timeframes for the achievement of sectoral job-creation targets.
The US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration and vehicle manufacturer General Motors build a new, advanced dextrous humanoid robot.
Major nuclear power new build programme will need a hefty investment.
And, Kuwaiti telecoms firm Zain expects return up to $5-billion from the Bharti deal.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit engineeringnews.co.za.