The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) says it supports the government’s plans to build nuclear power stations as a way off relieving pressure on the national grid. SACCI says it is premature to criticize these plans without a proper cost-benefit analysis in place and that most of the opposition to nuclear power are emotional reactions to recent accidents in Japan and at Chernobyl in earlier times. SACCI says the whole debate about nuclear energy following the successful operation of Koeberg seems to be based on emotions.
“And what we really do need is to sit back and look at it objectively, and have a look at the real issues which lie behind it. We have been told that it is unsafe. We have been told that it is very expensive but we haven’t had any figures. So we need to sit down and say how much does it cost and will it be of any use to South Africa if we have nuclear energy or not,” says SACCI’s Chief Operating Officer, Peggy Drodskie.
SACCi says it not think that nuclear is a dangerous form of energy.
“We have had Koeberg operating for many, many years. Although there have been glitches, there has never been a security problem or a problem that shows it is dangerous. We tend to base our views on recent incidents that have taken place in Japan. And we keep on going back to Chernoby and we know that it happened a long time ago, and new technology does come with greater safety features and the International Nuclear Energy Association puts together, very very strong and stringent requirements for any nuclear facility,” says Drodskie.
SACCI says its annual Convention that ended on Tuesday in Midrand, north of Johannesburg focused on four of key issues facing the economy such as a bill of rights for business, the energy crisis, the introduction of a national minimum wage and the failure of the SETAs. These issues will form the basis for further engagement with government.
“The motions hope to inform us basically what are the key issues that we need to focus on from now on into 2016 and what are the key issues we need engage government on, in terms of creating an enabling environment for business to thrive,” says President of SACCI, Vusi Khumalo.
In another development SACCI says it has been taken by surprise by the redeployment of former Minister of Mineral Resources Ngoako Ramatlhodi to be the political head of the Department of Public Service and Administration.
“However, we know that the President has the prerogative to reshuffle the Cabinet as and when he deems fit. We also want to congratulate the new incumbent and hope that he will come up with good solutions to some of the current challenges that the mining industry is facing,” says Khumalo.
Source: www.sabc.co.za
