Geography assignment

Assignment on Renewable energy

1. 1. INTRODUCTION

South Africa primarily uses coal to generate electricity, the use of coal in the country
is very convenient and cheap because the coal is mind right here. This helps save the
money a lot of money in terms of costs of transportation. (ESKOM, 2018) States that
nuclear energy is used to produce electricity all over the world. Simply put, nuclear
power generation is the harnessing of the energy created by a nuclear reaction. To
produce electricity an energy source is needed to drive the huge turbines in a power
station. In a nuclear power station, that energy comes from the splitting of atoms of
uranium - a process known as fission. Off lately the South African electrical grid has
been under strain, this has led to the government sometimes having to use
hydropower to generate electricity as back up for the coal powered stations. Recently
there has been a suggestion that the country should venture into nuclear power to
generate electricity. The following essay will take a look into the advantages and
disadvantages of using nuclear power in South Africa. According to (World Nuclear
Association, 2017) South Africa already has two nuclear power plants which generate
about five percent of the country’s electricity. It also stated that the country’s first
nuclear plant started operating in 1984.
2. NUCLEAR POWER
As stated in the above statement South Africa has had a nuclear plant for a long time,
there are two of them to be exact. This the venturing into the use this type of power is
not a new thing for the country. According to (World Nuclear Association, 2017) the
call for nuclear energy came as a result of transporting electricity and coal for
distances, that system was criticized for being efficient. Nuclear power has its own
pros and cons, just like any other system used to generate electricity. Uranium is the
most used element to produce electricity. “Uranium has the highest atomic mass of all
the known natural elements. It is also the most readily fissionable material, especially
when it has been enriched to contain slightly more uranium 235 than occurs naturally”
(ESKOM, 2018).
3. SUCCESSFUL COUNTRIES

2. “All parts of the world are involved in nuclear power development, and some examples
are outlined below” (World Nuclear Association, 2018). There are about 16 countries
who are currently dependant on nuclear power to generate electricity. In North
America, nuclear power generates 6% of Mexico’s electricity, 16% in Canada and 20%
in the USA. USA is part of the top three countries which uses nuclear power to
generate electricity. In South America Brazil and Argentina are the two countries which
use nuclear power and they generate three and six percent respectively. There are
too many countries to mention from Europe, only the top countries are going to be
mentioned in this essay. They are as follows Belgium (52%) and France (72%). In
Africa it’s only South Africa (7%). Nuclear generation by country 2016 (see figure 1),
shows a list of countries which generate the most nuclear energy. Armenia,
Netherlands and Slovenia are the bottom three and USA, France and China are the
top three. Figure 3 shows the reactors which are still currently operational around the
world, the statistics are courtesy of IAEA.
4. ADVANTAGES

South Africa’s number one electricity provider Eskom, on their website has pointed out
some of the advantages that nuclear power comes with and they are as follows.
“Nuclear power is safe. Generating electricity from nuclear power does not lead to
carbon dioxide emissions and other 'greenhouse' gases that can damage the
environment. The process produces small volumes of waste to dispose of” (ESKOM,
2018). Uranium is abundantly available in the Earth’s crust, so one of the advantages
is that it will not run out any time soon. South Africa is known for the mining of gold,
hence its richest city is nicknamed the place of gold. It is said that uranium is a by-
product of gold, so this proves advantageous to a country like South Africa. “Because
uranium and gold are found together in mineral deposits in South Africa, uranium is
produced as a by-product of gold mining. There are an estimated 261 000 tons of
uranium, consisting of 205 000 tons of ‘reasonably assured resources’ together with
56 000 tons of ‘estimated additional resources’ (DME 1998). If used to generate
electricity in conventional nuclear reactors, these reserves would be equivalent to 158
EJ of energy” (Winkler , et al., 2006, p. 48). The construction and operation of nuclear
power plants will lead to the creation of many jobs. (Department of Minerals and
Energy, 2008, p. 31) Also elaborated on the job creation matter by saying “the vision

3. of Government for the nuclear sector can contribute significantly to the country’s social
and economic development through amongst others the creation and maintenance of
jobs. Uranium mining alone is conservatively expected to create and sustain at least
10000 additional jobs in the next decade. Activities in the sector shall therefore be
undertaken in a manner that seeks to maximise job creation while maintaining the
necessary efficiency and safety”.
5. DISADVANTAGES

Even though the assignment is not about a political debate, one cannot deny that some
of the concerns which are the disadvantages of nuclear power are political. Which
leads to the point that some of the disadvantages that are to be named are political.
Eskom is one of the first organisations to point out the negative impacts that come with
the implementation of nuclear power plants. Its concerns are as follows “Negative
public perceptions about nuclear energy because of its association with nuclear
weapons and concerns about nuclear waste and safety. Nuclear stations with
engineering safety systems are expensive, mainly because of the systems needed to
ensure their safety. Waste disposal is also expensive” (ESKOM, 2018). This
disadvantages pretty much are the major ones, as most sources also focus solely on
them. They are economic, social and political.
CONCLUSION

Coal is the number fossil fuel used to generate electricity min South Africa, this is
because it is abundantly available in the country. In times when the electrical grid is
put under severe strain, the government employs the use of hydro power to
compensate the shortage of power. (ESKOM, 2018) States that nuclear energy is used
to produce electricity all over the world. Simply put, nuclear power generation is the
harnessing of the energy created by a nuclear reaction. To produce electricity an
energy source is needed to drive the huge turbines in a power station. In a nuclear
power station, that energy comes from the splitting of atoms of uranium - a process
known as fission. There are many countries who were able to successfully implement
the use of nuclear power, the list includes countries like the USA, Canada, France and
many more. The three listed are the most successful of the countries to ever use

4. nuclear power. There are countries which have implemented it but are not as
successful as the three listed above. Those countries are Armenia, Slovenia and
Netherlands. Some of the advantages associated with nuclear are there are not CO2
emissions that harm the environment and uranium is abundantly available in the
earth’s crust. Then there are some disadvantages that go with nuclear power, these
disadvantages are social, political and economic. And they are as follows, disposal of
waste is expensive and concerns about safety just to name a few.

5. References
Department of Minerals and Energy, 2008. NUCLEAR ENERGY POLICY FOR THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH
AFRICA, Johannesburg: Dpartment of Minerals and Energy.
ESKOM, 2018. NUCLEAR POWER. [Online]
Available at:
http://www.eskom.co.za/AboutElectricity/ElectricityTechnologies/Pages/Nuclear_Power.aspx
[Accessed 19 March 2018].
IAEA, 2018. Operational & Long-Term Shutdown Reactors. [Online]
Available at: https://www.iaea.org/PRIS/WorldStatistics/OperationalReactorsByCountry.aspx
[Accessed 20 March 2018].
Winkler , H. et al., 2006. Energy policies for sustainable Development in South Africa: Options for the
future, Cape Town: Energy Research Centre.
World Nuclear Association, 2017. World Nuclear Association. [Online]
Available at: http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-o-
s/south-africa.aspx
[Accessed 19 March 2018].
World Nuclear Association, 2018. Nuclear Power in the World Today. [Online]
Available at: http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-
generation/nuclear-power-in-the-world-today.aspx
[Accessed 19 March 2018].