Page 24 - Energize February 2021

VIEWS AND OPINION

SA taxpayers exposed to high-level

nuclear waste disposal and

decommissioning liabilities

by Chris Yelland, EE Business Intelligence

Citizens and taxpayers in South Africa continue to labour under the
misguided belief that Eskom and the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South
Africa (Necsa), make real funding provisions monthly, over the operating life
of their nuclear reactors, to cover the costs of decommissioning and
disposal of high-level nuclear waste from their nuclear plants, in terms of

the “polluter pays” principle.

Chris Yelland

th
age 69 of the 8 National Report However, the problem with these fine words to the IAEA is that they are misleading,
prepared by the South African perhaps deliberately so, and that the so-called “provision” is actually something of a
Department of Energy (DoE) and “Potemkin village” to placate and impress the IAEA and the public at large that all is well
PNational Nuclear Regulator (NNR), and under control.
and presented to the International Atomic In fact, no money, securities, or investments of any kind have actually been set
Energy Agency (IAEA) in August 2019 in aside monthly, annually or at stage and in any fund during operation of South Africa’s
terms of South Africa’s obligations to the nuclear facilities as provision for decommissioning, long-term storage and final disposal
Convention of Nuclear Safety, states in of high-level nuclear waste, and/or the construction and operation of a high-level
respect of Eskom’s Koeberg nuclear nuclear waste repository.
power station: The National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute (NRWDI) has confirmed that since
Necsa’s SAFARI-1 research reactor was inaugurated in 1966, since Koeberg commenced
“Financial provision for operation in 1984, and since the National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute Act No 53,
decommissioning (as well as spent 2008 was promulgated in early 2009, not one rand has been put into the proposed
fuel management) continues to be Radioactive Waste Disposal Fund which had long been envisaged for this purpose.
accumulated on a monthly basis The National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute (NRWDI) is a South African state-
since commercial operation of the owned entity reporting to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE),
installation began in 1984. The responsible for nuclear waste management and disposal services in terms of its
financial provision is reflected in the enabling legislation.
annual financial statements of
Eskom. These financial statements “The Radioactive Waste Management Fund falls within the ambit of the DMRE. The
are audited in accordance with Fund has not yet been set up, and therefore no payments can be made to the Fund
South African national legislation. at this stage”, says Alan Carolissen, the acting CEO of NRWDI.

“In terms of decommissioning Carolissen further advised that the DMRE is currently finalising the draft Radioactive Waste
financial plans, the amount of Disposal Fund Bill, which will be gazetted for public comments in due course. However, no
decommissioning and spent fuel timelines were given in this regard, and the matter has been dragging on for years.
provision made each month is According to Eskom, the so-called “provision” made for decommissioning and disposal
determined by the present value of of high-level nuclear waste from the Koeberg nuclear power station is simply an accounting
future estimated cash flows. These book-entry for future obligations estimated at R16,2-billion, expressed in 2020 rand, and
financial plans are reviewed regularly reflected as a liability on Eskom’s heavily over-indebted FY 2020/21 balance sheet, as
and adjusted annually and informed opposed to any realisable assets held in a ringfenced fund for this purpose.
by the South African inflation rate.” Riedewaan Bakardien, the chief nuclear officer (CNO) at Eskom, says that of the

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