Northern Cape community against nuclear station
July 15, 2007, 13:45
http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/general/0,2172,152598,00.html
The community of Komaggas in the Northern Cape says they are not going to allow Eskom to go ahead with its plans to build a nuclear power station on their land.
Brazil and Skulpfontein in the Northern Cape, together with three other sites in two provinces, have since the early 1980′s been assessed to determine the viability of the multi-billion-rand nuclear power stations. Eskom is currently meeting affected communities to check how the move could impact on them.
Ninety percent of Eskom’s electricity is generated by coal fired power stations, however, Eskom is looking at the possibility of expanding, and nuclear power is the only way.
Eskom, which has contracted specialists for the environmental assessment process, says the journey has not been easy. Tony Stott, from Eskom, said: “We tend to get both negative and positive comments from communities; here we tended to get more negative comments.”
Andy Pienaar, a community representative, said: “I think from here on we going shut these people out of the community and we are going make every effort to make sure that they do not erect a power station at Brazil or Skulpfontein for that matter.”
However, Eskom has vowed to engage the community further in this process, which is expected to be completed in January 2009.
