Rosatom signs accord to build NPP in South Africa
VIENNA. Sept 22 (Interfax) - Russia and South Africa on Monday signed an intergovernmental agreement on strategic partnership in the nuclear sector.
The agreement was signed by chief of the Rosatom state corporation Sergei Kiriyenko and South African Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson at the 58th general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.
Under this agreement Russia and South Africa will jointly build up to eight power generating units for nuclear power plants and cooperate in other areas of atomic industry, including the construction of a research reactor. Russia will help South Africa promote the development of its infrastructure and train specialists.
Kiriyenko said that this program provides for a broad localization of the production of equipment for new nuclear power plants, which will make it possible to implement joint projects in third countries. Cooperation will put conditions in place for creating a thousand jobs and placing orders with local companies worth up to $10 billion.
Reports said earlier that in November 2013 Rosatom and the South African Energy Ministry initialed an agreement on strategic partnership and cooperation in nuclear power engineering and industry.
The construction of new nuclear power plants, powered with Russian VVER reactors with an aggregate capacity of 9.6 Gigawatts (up to eight power generating units), is the key project of the future agreement.
South Africa has one nuclear power plant, Koeberg, with a capacity of 1,800 Megawatts (the only one in Africa). In March 2011 the South African government approved a plan for the development of the energy sector which provides for increasing the share of nuclear power engineering in the country's energy balance from 5% to 25% by building nuclear power plants with a capacity of up to 9.6 Gigawatts. South Africa had been planning to announce a tender for building a nuclear power plant before the end of 2012.