Eskom’s response to the media reports alleging a nuclear deal had been signed

10 April 2017

In response to last week’s media reports alleging that a nuclear deal had been signed, Eskom would like to reiterate the remarks made by the National Treasury that no deal had been signed.

“Eskom expects to issue a full Request for Proposal (RFP) to the open market once the Request for Information (RFI) has been assessed and the relevant approvals have been obtained. To date Eskom has therefore not received any formal proposals from potential suppliers and has not signed any power plant procurement agreements. Eskom has not undertaken any pre-qualification assessment to date related to the potential respondents to a potential RFP,” Eskom’s chief nuclear officer Dave Nicholls said.

In November 2016, Eskom was designated by Cabinet as the procuring organisation for the nuclear power plants in the Nuclear New Build Program in line with the 2008 Nuclear Energy policy and the IRP 2010.

Subsequently the Minister of Energy, in consultation with Chairman of National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), gazetted a Section 34 determination on 14 December designating Eskom under the Energy Regulation Act for this capacity. Eskom, in conjunction with Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA), issued a non-binding Request for Information to the open market on 20th December, which will close on 28th April 2017.

Issued Eskom Media Desk, 10 April 2017