Though nuclear power is vociferously opposed by various ‘green’ pressure groups, the government is right to choose more of it for this country.

The minister of minerals and energy, Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, deserves full support for her endorsement of nuclear energy for South Africa.

Her recent statement to this effect comes not a moment too soon, for we are in danger of running short of electricity. Eskom’s coal-fired power stations serve the nation well, and we will remain heavily dependent on coal for a long time to come. But coal reserves, though large, will not last forever, and coal is dirty. It is also a bit unfair that the people living on the Mpumalanga coalfields should have to bear the brunt of coal generated pollution.

Wind and solar energy have limited potential, as does imported natural gas, while we don’t have enough water to generate more electricity. Oil has to be paid for in dollars. So nuclear it has to be. As Margaret Thatcher would say, there is no alternative.

Fortunately, nuclear energy is clean, cheap, and safe. Eskom’s nuclear power station at Koeberg in the Western Cape has an excellent safety record. Cheap electricity is one of South Africa’s attractions for investors. It is also essential if we are to provide and keep providing electricity at reasonable cost to the millions of poor people in this country — 2.8m households, according to Ms Susan Shabangu, Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka’s deputy — who do not have it.

The only real problem with nuclear power is that it is politically incorrect. Not only that, but some green lobbies and environmental pressure groups can sometimes be among the most intolerant people around.

In September last year the Institute invited Mr Andrew Kenny, an engineer who specialises in energy research and sits on our governing Council, to deliver a lecture on the proposed new Pebble Bed Modular Reactor. Over the years we have hosted dozens upon dozens of different speakers from all walks of life and all parts of the political spectrum. Seldom has an invitation generated such hostility.

Perhaps we should not have been surprised. Some years ago when we published an article questioning some of the claims made by green pressure groups, a person wrote in to say he would remove the Institute as one of the beneficiaries in his will unless we promised never again to raise such questions. (The text of Mr Kenny’s speech appears in the February 2004 issue of Fast Facts.)

Around 40 000 households in South Africa are struck by paraffin-related fires each year. The day when we all have electricity as an alternative source of energy cannot come too soon. So let’s install more nuclear power.

—John Kane-Berman