Eskom looks the other way as nuclear energy cleanup costs soar into taxpayers problem
Energy expert Chris Yelland puts a spotlight on more financial woes at Eskom. The state-owned power utility has ignored the mounting costs associated with the decommissioning of its nuclear energy facilities. In 2019, South Africa’s government pledged to extend the life of its commercial reactor, Koeberg by 20 years but stored nuclear waste will also eventually have to be disposed of. Eskom admits that the line item for decommissioning and disposal of nuclear waste is a place holder on the balance sheet and is, in fact, reflected as a liability in its debt-burdened books. Yelland examines the full extent of the hole in Eskom’s budget and reveals who will ultimately have to pay the bill when Koeberg reaches the end of life. – Melani Nathan
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SAâs nuclear energy housekeeping costs â who will foot the bill?
No real money, securities or investments of any kind have actually been set aside to cover the countryâs nuclear waste disposal and decommissioning liabilities.
By Chris Yelland
22 Feb 2021 19:33
Taxpayers may be expected to step in to ensure that the polluter pays principle can be applied. Image: Shutterstock
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.
Page 69 of the 8th National Report prepared by the Department of Energy and the SA National Nuclear Regulator, and presented to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in August 2019 in terms of South Africa’s obligations to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, states in respect of Eskom’s Koeberg nuclear power station:
“Financial provision for decommissioning (as well as spent fuel management) continues to be accumulated on a monthly basis since commercial operation of the installation began in 1984. The financial provision is reflected in the annual financial statements of Eskom. These financial statements are audited in accordance with South African national legislation.