The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), the State-owned company responsible for nuclear research and technology development, as well as the provision of nuclear applications and products, has six high-impact programmes aimed at strengthening the country’s nuclear sector and the benefits it provides to the country.

“The high-impact programmes in our view are a fundamental shift in the Necsa growth strategy that we began implementing on 1 April 2026, focusing on increasing revenue for Necsa and supporting South Africa’s nuclear industry,” highlights Necsa Group CEO Loyiso Tyabashe.

“We believe that we built the solid foundation on the back of our turnaround strategy from 2021, that has delivered positive results in financial sustainability, improved operations and governance as well as stability. It should be noted that the six programmes have multiple projects, which will be executed and come on stream over time and beyond the five-year term of the strategy.”

A fundamental such programme is ‘Capacitation and Strengthening Skills Development’, which will include, where and when necessary, the importation and transfer of skills, while others include the diversification of its radioisotopes production and services, and the stabilisation of its fluorochemical business (which fall under Necsa subsidiaries NTP Radioisotopes and Pelchem respectively).

This account will, however, focus on the ‘Solidify Neutron Source Generation’, ‘Power Generation Leading with SMRs’ (Small Modular Reactors), and ‘Front-End Nuclear Fuel Cycle’ programmes. There is a programme manager for each of these initiatives.

The national policy framework into which these programmes fit is provided by the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2025. This document states that it is government policy to develop 5 200 MWe of new nuclear energy capacity by 2039. This could be later increased, to reach a total of 10 000 MWe. (To give scale, Egypt’s four-reactor El Dabaa nuclear power plant (NPP), currently under construction, and which should be fully commissioned by 2030, will have a total generation capacity of 4 400 MWe.) Of the total nuclear capacity in the IRP, up to 400 MWe could be assigned to SMRs.

The Sure Thing

‘Solidify Neutron Source Generation’ sounds very esoteric, but it is quite literally a life-or-death matter for many people in South Africa and far beyond. Necsa uses neutrons to create medical radioisotopes, used for both diagnosis and treatment, especially of cancer. And those neutrons are produced in a nuclear reactor. Currently, that reactor is SAFARI-1, the heart of Necsa’s Pelindaba complex. SAFARI-1 was first commissioned in March 1965, making it just over 61 years old. It has an amazing record of longevity and safety, but clearly it has to be replaced. That replacement programme has now been launched, to build what is being called a Multipurpose Reactor (MPR).

As its name indicates, the new reactor will have a range of important functions. Necsa has identified eight. Top of the list is to be a reliable source of medical radioisotopes, as these are life-savers. The MPR will also allow advanced research in materials sciences, manufacturing and energy, through the use of radiation and beams. It will also support fuel testing and industrial applications. Through localisation, job creation and skills development, it will bring socioeconomic benefits.

It will form a technological base for the planned construction of new nuclear reactors, and support that programme by means of materials and fuel testing. It will act as a training platform for the engineers and operators who will later work in the planned new NPPs. And it will maintain South Africa’s regional leadership in nuclear technology.

The first major step in this acquisition process will be the release, to all interested companies, of a request for proposals (RfP). This will be followed by the appointment of the main contractor, and then the design process will start. The next step will be to secure the required environmental authorisation, from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, followed by the obtaining of the nuclear installation licence, from the National Nuclear Regulator. Then construction will start. The final stage will be commissioning and operating the MPR.

“We’ve developed the RfP, but it needs to receive certain approvals from various government departments, particularly the National Treasury,” reports Necsa group executive: power and industry Sengiphile Simelane. “We hope to issue it in the first or second quarter of this financial year – in other words, before the end of September. Once we get the green light from government, we’ll go to the market.”

Necsa had originally hoped to issue the RfP last year. The delay meant that the target date for the start of operations by the MPR has been pushed back from 2033 to 2034.

“We have funding, approved by government, up to the completion of the design phase,” he assures. “This phase, from the issue of the RfP to the conclusion of design, should take three years. Construction and commissioning should take about five years.”

The SAFARI-1 reactor has a capacity of 20 MWt. The intent is that the MPR will have a capacity of from 20 MWt to 30 MWt.

Help Needed

The World Nuclear Association (WNA) defines SMRs as “nuclear reactors generally 300 MWe equivalent or less, designed with modular technology using module factory fabrication, pursuing economies of series production and short construction times”. (Standard NPPs have a generating capacity of 1 000 MWe or more.) Note that there are some SMR designs which are larger than 300 MWe. (The smallest SMR designs, with capacities of less than 20 MWe, are increasingly being called microreactors.)

The key part of the SMR is not its small size – small reactors have existed and operated for decades, most obviously those powering nuclear submarines and surface ships – but the prefabricated modular nature of its design and construction. There is interest, globally, in the concept and there are now numerous SMR designs available or under development, but only four have so far entered service (two each in China and Russia, of different designs).

“The smaller capacity of SMRs allows for deployment in settings where large plants may not be practical – such as remote communities, industrial clusters, or regions with small electricity grids,” points out the WNA.

South Africa is also interested in the concept and the IRP’s Decision 4 states that the country will build a demonstration SMR. This will be focused on a number of applications – energy generation, hydrogen production, process heat and desalination. This SMR demo plant will be built and operated by Necsa, at its Pelindaba complex, west of Pretoria.

“We see this demo plant as being very important for decision-making regarding the roll-out of this new technology in South Africa,” affirms Simelane. “We’ll learn from it, and keep [national electricity utility] Eskom and the country informed about what we learn, to help Eskom decide whether to adopt the technology, or not.”

Necsa has issued an expression of interest (EOI) for SMRs, which is a means to ascertain what options are available. The EOI will allow the company to draw up a shortlist of potential vendor companies, to whom an RfP will then be sent. Finally, a credible partner will be identified, a strong partner, capable of developing and building an SMR as fast as possible.

Necsa wants to send out the RfP as soon as possible. The target was to release it before the end of September and to identify the ideal partner by the end of this financial year (March 2027).

“We’re going the partner route so that we can explore funding options with the technology partner,” Simelane explains. “In the EOI, we included a willingness to co-fund the project. For example, Necsa might contribute equity to the project, and not cash.”

Also key will be skills development. The selected partner will have to bring, where necessary, skills into South Africa and transfer them to South Africans.

Localisation was important to Necsa, and was likely to be determined in the RfP, but for the demonstration SMR it could be small. However, if an SMR programme was launched, the degree of localisation would increase substantially, over time. It should be noted that Necsa has an in-house advanced manufacturing capability, with nuclear (ASME III) certification, and a number of local companies also have such capabilities and certification.

The plan was to have the demonstration SMR operational by 2036 at the latest. The timescale might be shorter, depending on the capabilities of the selected partner.

Revival

Surprising as it may seem today, once upon a time South Africa was almost certainly the world leader in SMR development, years ahead of anyone else, with the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), which was a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) design. But in 2010 active development of the PBMR was terminated and the project put into a care-and-maintenance state. Then, last November, Cabinet announced that the PBMR was to be lifted out of care and maintenance, and transferred from Eskom to Necsa. The necessary bureaucratic and legal procedures for the transfer are under way and, once completed, the PBMR will be Necsa’s.

“Under care and maintenance, there was a skeleton PBMR staff, intellectual property (IP) and physical assets, such as the Helium Test Facility and the Fuel Development Lab. We’ll be getting all these assets – people, IP, and facilities,” reports Simelane.

“For us, the low-hanging fruit is PBMR fuel – developing it and producing it. The idea is to scale up the Fuel Development Lab into a pilot plant, and then go from pilot level to commercial level. There is still a lot for us to do to see if there is an appetite for this fuel. We think there is but we’ll do a market survey. Scaling up will depend on the market out there (which could include future SMRs in South Africa).”

The SMR and PBMR programmes are entirely separate, but there are other HTGR SMR designs now available on the market, so it is not impossible that an HTGR could be chosen for the demonstration SMR. Should that happen, it would be an obvious step for Necsa to produce its fuel. The choice of SMR design will, however, be made on the basis of technical criteria and funding, and he assures that Necsa is taking care to avoid bias towards HTGR designs in the SMR selection.

Not that PBMR fuel is the limit of the company’s nuclear fuel ambitions. It is also seeking to produce fuel for research reactors. The supply of research reactor fuel globally has been disrupted by international political developments, and Necsa needs to ensure the security of supply for the upcoming MPR. It has also discovered that there is an international demand for fuel for research reactors.

Currently, Necsa buys low-enriched uranium (LEU) on the international market (which is now rather difficult) and sends it to France, where the fuel is fabricated. The French then send the components to Necsa, which puts together the fuel assemblies that go into SAFARI-1.

“We should have started producing our own fuel long ago,” observes Simelane. “We want to move step-by-step.

“First, restore fuel fabrication here in South Africa (we used to do it). Then later, look at the local production of LEU, which would require a proper conversion plant and an enrichment plant. The long-term aim would be to produce nuclear fuel and assemblies for large pressurised water reactor NPPs. Should Eskom build 10 000 MWe of NPPs, that would make local manufacture of their fuel commercially viable. It would be important in terms of localisation, job creation and spreading nuclear energy across Africa.”

Necsa believes that South Africa is also well positioned to participate in the global nuclear fuel market. Again, this could be done by means of international partnerships, such as with uranium-rich Namibia. The required conversion plant could even be set up in Namibia, with the enrichment and fuel fabrication plants in South Africa.