The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) is setting its sights on a monumental R50 billion investment to foster innovative research and product development in the nuclear sector, with a special focus on a groundbreaking pilot project at Pelindaba.

This initiative aims to position South Africa as a global player in nuclear fuel production while rolling out small modular reactor (SMR) technology at decommissioned coal stations across the nation.

At a media roundtable on Monday, Necsa CEO Loyiso Tyabashe said the entity and power utility Eskom were largely in agreement on the turning of decommissioned power plants to nuclear stations as it would save at least 30% in capital from already existing transmission lines, water supply and other amenities.

Necsa has through the Multi Purpose Reactor Programme secured R1.2bn from the government to sustain the nuclear medicine business in the main.

Tyabashe said Necsa’s delivery on its shareholder compact established with the 2021 turnaround strategy has come up from 50%, which had steadily risen to 63%, 73% and in the last financial year delivered 93%.

In 2021, Necsa incurred a loss of R318 million adding to previous years, which improved to a R30m loss and then sustainable profits of R148m and R149m for two successive years.

“Of the menu on the table, we are talking plus minus R50bn investment that is needed and that is a bound to change as we move along because some projects are at pre-feasibility and some are are at feasibility,” Tyabashe said.

“We are already engaging partners in the banking space, investment space to show we can implement these projects and programmes with agility, obviously in a prioritised manner.”

He said with the Pelindaba pilot project, Necsa did not primarily focus on electricity generation, which saved the project from the Section 34 moratorium while Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa determines from which types of energy sources electricity may be produced, the quantity thereof and authority to determine who may sell and purchase such electricity.

Tyabashe said on the fuel timelines, Necsa’s priority was to look at target plates and fuel plates manufacturing for the Necsa Research reactor and at this stage all the protocols are being firmed up in terms of their schedules ,finance or capital requirements.

He said with the Pebble Bed Moderator Reactor at Pelindaba (PBMR) under care and maintenance, it was in the process of being transferred from Eskom to the Nuclear Research Organisation and issues Intellectual Property (IP) in as much as it is in care and maintenance.

“If you mothball something in 2010, 15 years down the line the technology has moved so much so you can't assume that what used to be leading edge in 2010 is not leading edge now in 2025,” Tyabashe said.

He said Necsa was driving for of life the life extension after 2030 of Safari-1, the research reactor commissioned in 1965, which could be used in research for pressurised water reactors and investing in Multipurpose Research Reactors (MPRR), which do all what SAFARI does but more at an industrial scale.

“There is a big market by local universities and global organisations, so the MPPR becomes a newer version of the SAFARI with better capabilities and higher production capacity,” he said.

Tyabashe said Necsa needed to grow radioIsotopes production and services as well as growing the market beyond market molybdenum, Iodine and potassium and other isotopes which could be to produced and sold profitably across the spectrum of the globe.

“That is the beneficiation story, you take SAFARI and the NTP (a NECSA subsidiary) you take Uranium, it undergoes processes until it become injectable in your body through the medical isotopes, that is a good story for beneficiation in the country,” Tyabashe said.

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