Last year nuclear energy generated 25% of the world’s clean (greenhouse gas emissions-free) electricity, and ranked second only to hydropower as a clean energy source, reported the World Nuclear Association (WNA) in its newly published “World Nuclear Performance Report 2023”. Total electricity generated by nuclear energy last year was 2 545 terawatt hours (TWh), and 2022 [...]

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the latest developments with regard to the Koeberg nuclear power station, a big battery storage programme and the unbundling of Eskom.

State-owned electricity utility Eskom has confirmed that Unit 1 at the Koeberg nuclear power station, in the Western Cape, is currently scheduled to return to service only on November 3. The unit entered an extended outage on December 10 last year, which was initially scheduled to be completed in 180 days and returned to service [...]

The South African government has announced the new boards of directors for both the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) and the National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute (NRWDI). The NNR serves to ensure that people, property and the environment are protected against nuclear damage. It does so by establishing and enforcing safety standards and regulatory practices. It [...]

The Presidency is exploring several avenues for increasing the grant component in the financing of South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP), following broad-based stakeholder criticism about the limited nature of such funding in the initial $8.5-billion pledge made by various developed countries. The head of the Presidency’s JET-IP project management unit (PMU), Joanne [...]

In addition to the interim dividend of $2.8-billion, diversified mining company Glencore on Tuesday announced a top up of $2.2-billion, which lifted this year’s total announced shareholder returns to $9.3-billion. “If you look at the results as a whole for 2023 versus some of our history, and if we exclude 2022 – which, as we [...]

South Africa’s government will need another two to three months to complete an energy transition implementation plan, further delaying the flow of funds from an $8.5-billion climate finance agreement with some of the world’s richest countries. More work needs to be done on how to reskill workers from coal-dependent communities as coal-fired plants gradually close [...]

International data and analytics company GlobalData has forecast that the global defence artificial intelligence (AI) market will expand dramatically by the end of this decade. And that a key part of the global AI market environment during this period will be what the company describes as an escalating “tech war” between the US and China. The worldwide defence [...]

The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has announced the restart of construction work on the R4.05-billion Mtentu Bridge contract, in the Eastern Cape. The Aveng Strabag joint venture (JV), responsible for building the then R1.6-billion structure, walked out on the project in early 2019, following months of violent community protests.

Four out of the five top-tier gold-mining assets of AngloGold Ashanti are in Africa. As the cornerstones of the company, these tier 1 mines are Geita in Tanzania, Obuasi and Iduapriem in Ghana, and Kibali in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

A total of 17 bids have been received in response to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) inaugural public procurement for battery energy storage system (BESS) projects. The BESS request for proposals was launched on March 7 with an initial bid submission deadline of July 5, which was subsequently postponed to August 2 [...]

South African citrus farmers want their government to lodge a complaint against the European Union at the World Trade Organisation over the European bloc's citrus black spot regulations which they say threaten thousands of jobs. The measures imposed by the EU in June 2022 require enhanced cold treatment for citrus exports due to concerns over [...]