SOUTH Africa risked deepening its rift with the US if it turns to Russia or Iran to expand its civilian nuclear power capacity, said Reuters citing analysts.
“We can’t have a contract that says Iran or Russia must not bid, we can’t have that condition,” said mineral and petroleum resources minister Gwede Mantashe was quoted as saying.
South Africa, which operates Africa’s only nuclear power plant, Koeberg, plans to add 2,500 megawatts of new capacity to tackle electricity outages that have plagued the economy and to reduce emissions. “If they are the best in terms of the offer on the table, we’ll take any (country),” he told Reuters.
The country is under scrutiny from Washington after President Donald Trump issued a far-reaching executive order this month halting aid, said Reuters. Among other criticisms, the order claimed – without providing evidence – that South Africa was “reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements”.
Pretoria has no bilateral cooperation with Iran on nuclear power or any nuclear-related technology, the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
A US State Department spokesperson did not comment on the possibility of Iran or Russia helping South Africa expand its civilian nuclear capacity.
A South African tender for nuclear projects, initially planned for last year, has been delayed for further consultation following legal challenges led by the then opposition Democratic Alliance party, now part of the coalition government.
Pretoria and Washington had been seeking to conclude after almost a decade of talks a new civilian nuclear pact, known as a Section 123 Agreement, a prerequisite for exporting US-made nuclear fuel or equipment.
“The allegations made in the executive order can significantly complicate getting the agreement renewed,” said Isabel Bosman, a nuclear energy researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs.
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