Court rules basis of SA-Russia nuclear deal was ‘binding’
The bombshell judgment sheds light on the ongoing controversy over whether or not SA and Russia have concluded a nuclear procurement deal
A Western Cape High Court judge has rejected government claims that the far-reaching nuclear agreement between SA and Russia was simply a a bilateral international framework agreement for nuclear cooperation, concluding instead that it laid the basis for a "binding, exclusive agreement in relation to the procurement of new reactor plants". The bombshell judgment by Judge Lee Bozalek with Judge Elizabeth Baartman concurring sheds light on the ongoing controversy over whether or not SA and Russia have concluded a nuclear procurement deal. Speculation has been rife for several years that SA had concluded a secret nuclear procurement deal with Russia which would have made its energy giant Rosatom the lead provider of a fleet of nuclear plants to generate an envisaged 9600MW of energy. Former energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson tried repeatedly to squash this speculation, emphasising that no nuclear deal had been signed with Russia and saying that it was only a bilateral international...
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