In a world where there are more questions than answers, the one reverberating most around one of the Eastern Cape’s most environmentally, culturally and economically sensitive areas is why Eskom is seemingly “hellbent” on building a nuclear power station on a piece of paradise.

“This is the third time we’ve fought this battle in the past 30 years,” said Cheron Kraak, doyenne of business and surfing in Jeffreys Bay.

Residents say Eskom desperate to build nuclear plant at Thyspunt

“Eskom gets shot down every time in the public participation process; first in the late 1990s and then again in 2017. But now they’re at it again… and this time they seem desperate to go ahead with their plans.”

Those are to build a 5.2GW-capacity nuclear power plant at Thyspunt in the Kouga municipal district between Oyster Bay – described by residents as one of the last pristine non-protected coastal sites on the Garden Route – and the greater St Francis area.

The latter comprises St Francis Bay, Port St Francis and Cape St Francis and is popularly referred to as the “calamari capital” of South Africa. It is also a revered surf spot. Kouga also includes Humansdorp and Jeffreys Bay.

Thyspunt itself is an area of global cultural heritage importance and is the only place in the world that contains evidence of human existence spanning a million years.

It is simultaneously considered the coastal cradle of modern human man and a spiritual home for South Africa’s first nations, the Khoikhoi and San, as well as their surviving descendants, the Gamtouer House of Klaas and David Stuurman.

Opposition to the proposed nuclear facility is spearheaded by the Thyspunt Alliance, a grouping of civic bodies and individuals that incorporates conservationists and biodiversity experts, businesspeople and tourism bodies, residents associations, cultural groups, engineers and architects.

Eskom’s scoping report is biased and outdated – Thyspunt Alliance

The latest phase of the war kicked off late last year when the environmental practitioner appointed by the national electricity provider unexpectedly began compiling a voluminous scoping report.

This was the first step of a process that will allow the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment (DFFE) to decide whether to build a nuclear power station in the Eastern Cape.

(An environmental scoping report is a foundational document used in the early stages of a proposed development project. Its main purpose is to identify potential environmental and social impacts of a project, define boundaries for further investigation, and ensure the public is consulted.)

The Thyspunt Alliance was given less than two months to consider the Eskom consultants’ submissions and raise objections.

“The draft scoping document provided us with plenty of ammunition to fight back,” said alliance coordinator Trudi Malan.

“It did not contain all the relevant information to provide the DFFE with a sound foundation to approve any comprehensive plan of study that would be needed for an environmental impact report.

‘Predetermined conclusions’

“It was also filled with predetermined conclusions.”

Friends of St Francis Nature Areas takes this criticism a step further: “The consultant has lengthy experience of research and observation of the site. However, he has not been actively involved in research for almost two decades. Furthermore, the consultant cites only his own research and ignores other studies on the [Thyspunt] dune system and their findings.

“The consultant does not inspire confidence in [his] ability to assess the suitability of the Thyspunt site for a nuclear facility. The scoping report is biased…”

In its comprehensive response, the alliance acknowledges nuclear power is cleaner than coal-fired electricity. Its main disquiet revolves around “recycled, outdated reasoning” underpinning Eskom’s reasoning, especially as far as renewable energy generation and the project’s anticipated cost are concerned.

Given this country’s cost and build time overruns for its new coal-powered stations, the Thyspunt Alliance has baulked. South Africans will be paying through their noses for generations to come, believe its experts.

“The choice is a capital-allocation decision,” said Don McGillivray.

Capital-allocation decision

“One path commits the balance sheet to a trillion-rand, single-technology, undefined design megaproject that cannot deliver power before the early 2040s.

“The other deploys the cheapest electricity humanity has yet produced, financed privately.”

McGillivray is one of SA’s top renewable and energy-integration engineers, with more than 20 years’ experience in the field.

“South Africa’s decisive advantage is that its world-class wind and solar resources are complementary and co-located; strong coastal wind that peaks at night and in winter, paired with summer-daytime solar.”

He pointed out that current international research indicates “firmed” renewable energy (wind and solar backed up by battery energy storage systems) can be provided at a quarter the cost of nuclear.

The DA-led Kouga local municipality (the only one in the Eastern Cape) said the local economy relies heavily on tourism, agriculture and its ever-expanding renewable energy sector.

Local economy relies on tourism, agriculture, energy sector

A drive along the N2 freeway in the direction of Gqeberha reveals a skyline dominated by wind turbines that comprise the 80MW Kouga Wind Farm.

The facility has been contributing clean energy to the local grid since 2015.

The municipality has also been authorised to develop a 20MW solar photovoltaic farm.

Mayor Hattingh Bornman said green-lighting Thyspunt, which has been touted as the biggest construction project in the southern hemisphere, would create insurmountable infrastructure problems.

“We do not have sufficient capacity for the influx of people that the Thyspunt development will bring,” he said.

“There are also concerns regarding the emergency planning zone that will not allow any development to take place within a certain radius of the site. St Francis falls within that zone.

Construction village at Humansdorp

“We have some of the fastest-growing towns in our area and to prohibit any further development is of massive concern.”

A construction village will be built at Humansdorp.

Thyspunt Alliance said: “A workforce surge of non-local labour and jobseekers will probably exceed the existing population capacity, creating social tension and further increasing infrastructure strain.”

Many work in the squid-fishing industry, which is almost certain to collapse as millions of tons of sand and construction-spoil are dumped at sea.

Then there’s the issue of transport: during a recent visit The Citizen was unable to reach Thyspunt because the dirt roads were impassable due to recent floods.

These will have to be rebuilt with bridges spanning the Krom River and more roads will have to be built for construction vehicles and abnormal loads.