Developing nuclear energy in South Africa would aid in alleviating the country’s substantial unemployment rate, Russia’s State-owned nuclear company Rosatom deputy director-general Kirill Komarov told Engineering News Online on Wednesday.

He said for every direct nuclear job created, about seven indirect jobs are created in other sectors, which would boost the country’s economic growth.

South Africa’s unemployment rate was 25.2% in the first quarter of the year.

French nuclear giant Areva CEO Luc Oursel also said South Africa was a good market for nuclear energy, as State utility Eskom was struggling to keep up with demand. He added that nuclear also offered the benefit of having predictable costs, unlike coal.

Speaking at a roundtable discussion at the 2013 Atomexpo, in St Petersburg, this week, Komorov said that the Fukushima nuclear accident, in Japan in 2011, had an adverse impact on the global nuclear industry, but that the countries which were interested in pursuing nuclear energy prior to the disaster, were still doing so.

He said that only about 10% of nuclear projects had been shelved following Fukushima, and that the disaster’s more apparent impact had been an acute focus on the safety of the industry. All plants now had to adhere to a minimum of Level 3 of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) safety requirements.

IAEA director-general Yukiya Amano said in opening remarks at a Ministerial conference in St Petersburg that construction of new nuclear power plants had continued in many countries, despite the Japanese disaster of March 2011.

“Interest from what we at the IAEA call ‘newcomers’ is largely undiminished,” Amano said, noting that nuclear power had entered a period of stagnation after the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

Oursel noted that the Fukushima disaster amplified the need for international cooperation. “Together we must build the future of our nuclear power industry, towards the safe, long-term operation of this industry in the 21st century,” he urged delegates, adding that this could be achieved through peer organisations and proactive initiatives.

“The new nuclear plants are good in terms of safety, the problem lies with the older plants that need some upgrading,” Oursel added.

Komarov further noted that nuclear power was enjoying an increasing geography, with Arab countries showing particular interest.

The United Arab Emirates has become the first new country in 27 years to launch a nuclear power programme. It is currently building two reactors.

Komarov noted that nuclear power offered the benefit of being competitive in terms of affordability and supply security, which would aid the development of adjacent sectors, which rendered it a good option for South Africa.

IAEA deputy director-general and head Alexander Bychkov said global installed nuclear power capacity was anticipated to reach 800 GWe by 2030 and that the next decade would see significant growth in fast reactor technology.

The IAEA states that it is generally recognised that the long-term development of nuclear power as part of the world's future energy mix, would require fast reactor technology with a closed fuel cycle. Fast reactors have been brought in in the last decades and offered more efficient plant operation and simpler waste management.

Japan Atomic Industrial Forum president Takuya Hattori stated that the world population would grow from 6.9-billion in 2010 to 8.6-billion in 2035, which would see global primary energy consumption growing from 11.7-billion tons of oil-equivalent to  17.5-billion tons of oil equivalent.

He highlighted that world carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions would grow from 30.4 Gt to 43.4 Gt between 2010 and 2035. This, on the back of international electricity generation growing from 21.4 PWh to 38.1 PWh.

He said nuclear power contributed 13% of the world’s electricity in 2010, but that this would retract to 11% in 2035, if the current development rate of the industry persisted.

Hattori added that nuclear power development was shifting from the developed West to the developing East, with two-thirds of the roughly 67 new nuclear units being build globally located in Asia.

“Taking into consideration the world’s growing CO₂ emissions and its growing energy demand, it is clear that we cannot move forward sustainably without nuclear power development,” he stated.

Rolls Royce marine and nuclear president Lowrie Haynes, however, noted that nuclear power faced various challenges, including the difficulty of securing funding and establishing its viability, owing to lacking public confidence, while waste management also posed a challenge.

However, he pointed out that nuclear energy, as an electricity source, had proven technology to back it.

“The frontiers will be broad and the opportunities substantial for nuclear energy,” Haynes enthused.

World Nuclear Association director-general Agneta Rising said support for nuclear power was rebounding in the US following Fukushima. Rising highlighted that while the Middle East showed potential for nuclear development, political stability first had to return to the region.

She also urged that public support would have to be motivated and increased, through extensive public consultation.

“Public support will improve the economics of nuclear,” Rising said.