CONSULTING

Annex 1: Overview by Region and Country
This annex provides an overview of nuclear energy worldwide by region and country. Unless
otherwise noted, data on the numbers of reactors operating and under construction (as of early
July 2016) and nuclear’s share in electricity generation are from the International Atomic Energy
Agency’s Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) online database. Historical maximum figures
indicate the year that the nuclear share in the power generation of a given country was the highest
since 1986, the year of the Chernobyl disaster.
Africa
South Africa has two French (Framatome/AREVA)-built 31- and 32-year old 900 MW
reactors. They are both located at the Koeberg site east of Cape Town and generated 11 TWh in
2015, a decline of 26 percent over the previous year, the largest drop worldwide. Nuclear power
provided 4.7 percent of the country’s electricity in 2015 (the historical maximum was 7.4 percent
in 1989).
The Koeberg site hosts the only operating nuclear power plant on the African continent.
The Koeberg reactors are increasingly struggling with ageing issues. The decision to replace all
six steam generators of the two units has been taken as early as 2010. The plant had been
operating for many years at low temperatures in order to reduce the pace of corrosion in the
steam generator tubes. Replacement work was to begin in 2018. But, since September 2014, a
legal conflict between two competing supplier firms, French AREVA and Toshiba-owned
Westinghouse, is delaying implementation. Both industrial groups are in financial troubles and
badly need the 5 billion rand (US$324 million) business. In addition, AREVA reportedly has
already started working on steam generator fabrication at its Chinese subcontractor Shanghai
Electric. 359 In December 2015, South Africa’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of
Westinghouse, which had argued that the contract had not been allocated according to fairness
rules. Both companies have appealed to the Constitutional Court, the country’s highest court.
Hearings started on 18 May 2016. 360 The outcome is uncertain. Further delays could lead to
missing the next scheduled refueling outage and prevent the plants to be back on line when power
sources are most needed.
The state-owned South African utility and Koeberg operator Eskom has considered acquiring
additional large Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) and had made plans to build 20 GW of
generating capacity by 2025. However, in November 2008, Eskom scrapped an international
tender because the scale of investment was too high. In February 2012 the Department of Energy
(DOE) published a Revised Strategic Plan that still contained a 9.6 GW target, or six nuclear units,
by 2030. Startup would be one unit every 18 months beginning in 2022. 361
359 NIW, “South African Court Upends Koeberg Steam Generator Contract”, 11 December 2015.
360 Constitutional Court of South Africa, “Areva NP Incorporated v Eskom Holdings SOC Std and Another,
and Westinghouse Electric Belgium Société Anonyme v Areva NP Incorporated & Another – Media
Summary”, 18 May 2016.
361 DOE, “Revised Strategic Plan – 2011/120-02015/16”, February 2012.
Mycle Schneider, Antony Froggatt et al. 117 World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2016