Local nuclear technology conference to be held next month

The Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (Niasa) has confirmed that it will co-host a nuclear conference next month. Called the Nuclear Technology Imbizo 2022, the conference’s other co-hosts will be the South African Young Nuclear Professionals Society, Women in Nuclear South Africa, and the Southern African Radiation Protection Society. The Imbizo will be held at the Cape Town International Conference Centre and take place on March 16 and March 17. The association highlighted that South Africa had suffered from “massive loadshedding” (power cuts or outages) imposed by the State-owned national electricity utility Eskom over the past couple of years, including during this year already. Most of the breakdowns that triggered this loadshedding had occurred and were occurring in the utility’s fleet of coal-fired power stations. Further, under the Integrated Resource Plan 2019, 11 500 MW of this coal capacity would have to be decommissioned from 2030 on.