MONEYWEB LIVESTREAM 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.