On 17 May 2017, the National Union of Mine workers (NUM), in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and Sam Tambani Research Institute (SATRI), hosted a symposium to gather more information surrounding the energy needs of South Africa. They invited various civil society organisations, political parties, scientific institutes and government organs to attend and deliver presentations to NUM representatives.
NUM’s primary concerns were the expected job losses in the controversial closures of the five old coal fired power plants, potential job creation within the renewable energy sector and the benefits and disadvantages of adding nuclear energy to the energy mix.
The first presentation was given by the CSIR and dealt with the potential jobs that the renewable energy sector could create. This was of great interest to NUM, who are currently looking to expand outside of the coal arena. The types of jobs and the quantification of exactly how many jobs will be created is always difficult to convey. The CSIR utilize the unit job years Following the CSIR, two representatives from Eskom delivered two very different messages. The first of which discussed the reasons for the closure of the five coal fired power plants. This has recently been the cause for public outcry by the unions and it was here that Eskom tried to do damage control. Several articles in various online media publications have quoted Eskom stating the closures being definitive. Eskom themselves presented many different reasons for their closures including the age of the plants, international commitments to the reduction of CO2 emissions, the IRP 2010 requirements for closures, NERSA requirements and the Independent Power Producers. What was not mentioned in this presentation, but which is probably of great concern to NUM, is a recent study that indicates that South Africa’s peak coal production will be reached in 2020. This means that there will be a decline in the procurement of coal, it will become more difficult to access the very limited reserves of coal left and the quality of the coal remaining will decrease. These developments will probably translate into mine and plant closures anyway and lead to the loss of thousands of jobs within the next decade. The next presentation was a deliberate attempt to underplay the economic impacts of construction of a nuclear fleet, to brush aside the financial woes from any nuclear incidents and overplay the labour contribution that would be made. The presenter from Eskom did not even properly address the continuous construction delays that have plagued nuclear plants in recent history and the lack of public reporting regarding incidents at the Koeberg nuclear power station. Even with their acknowledgement that nuclear disasters can result in loss of life, Eskom made the unreasonable comparison that there are more deaths in car accidents around the world than caused from nuclear. This trope, of course, completely ignores the long term effects such as cancer and the possibility that the area in which the incident takes place can remain unliveable for generations to come. What came as a breath of fresh air to all who attended were the very pertinent questions and comments that proceeded this sales pitch. A true sign that NUM was earnest in their quest for the “WHOLE” truth. From shop stewards to spokespersons, everyone was questioning the information that Eskom provided. What was left ringing in the minds of the attendees were the two closing remarks by the head of SATRI, Dr. Martin Kaggwa, who recognized, in the symposium’s summation, “…that a very rosy picture of nuclear was painted here today,” and SACP spokesperson, Alex Mashilo, who firstly was not convinced that the benefits of nuclear outweigh the cons and secondly, that they had failed to address the debt that the nuclear plant would create for a country that is already in debt. Dr. Kaggwa called on interested parties with more objective information to make presentations at the next meeting that would give a more holistic view of nuclear energy. The NUM symposium was the beginning of a much needed and long overdue discussion that will hopefully spark much public debate and commentary. Project 90 by 2030 applauds this very earnest effort at fact finding and bravery to tackle issues that for too long have been shoved to the side. By Iago Davids (Policy and Research) [1] A job year = one job for one year [2] 1 job for 1 year equivalent to 230 working days