The High Court in Cape Town ruled in April the nuclear agreements signed by the government and various vendor countries be set aside, declaring them unlawful and unconstitutional. While the ruling is an important determinant in keeping the nuclear procurement process fair and transparent sight must not be lost of the real work ahead, that of growing SA’s economy, alleviating poverty and protecting the environment, all of which can only be done by investing in nuclear power. The ruling seeks to say the government erred in the internal ratification procedures of Parliament in its agreements signed with the US, Russia and South Korea. This has no bearing on the content or scope of the agreements. SA has to decommission about 20,000MW of coal-fired power plants in the next 20 years. They cannot be replaced with more coal due to environmental challenges, or with renewables, due to their intermittent nature. Nuclear energy is the only technology that allows SA to meet its COP21 obligation...
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