The creation of a local South African nuclear manufacturing industry – dubbed localisation – is fundamental to French nuclear group Areva’s strategy for South Africa. Areva is one of the companies seeking to build South Africa’s new pressure water reactor (PWR) type nuclear power station. The company expects that the decision to build this plant will be made during this year.

“We will invest in plants in South Africa, and in education and training, to make localisation a reality,” assured Areva South Africa chairperson Mohammed Madhi on Thursday.

“We will support localisation to the utmost we can. We will do this because it will be good for us, as Areva, as well as for South Africa, to have South Africa as part of the global nuclear supply chain. South Africa has the competencies. It will give us increased options in our supply chain.”

He pointed out that the construction of a series of PWR nuclear power stations in this country would create the opportunity to establish a new industry in South Africa, which could compete internationally. However, he warned that a number of countries were in a race to become significant nuclear export countries by launching their own nuclear new build and associated localisation programmes. The laggards will lose out.

“If the decision [to build the new PWR] is made within this year, we can still exploit the nuclear opportunities to the maximum,” he affirmed. “We are not behind the curve.”

The other contender to build the projected PWR is US company Westinghouse, part of Japan’s Toshiba group. The new PWR programme is completely separate from South Africa’s own pebble-bed modular reactor programme, which the government appears to have axed by massively cutting its funding in Wednesday’s budget.