{"id":6507,"date":"2025-10-14T11:45:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T11:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.powershiftafrica.org\/publications\/the-empty-promises-of-nuclear-energy-in-south-africa"},"modified":"2026-08-26T14:30:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:30:05","slug":"the-empty-promises-of-nuclear-energy-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/publications\/the-empty-promises-of-nuclear-energy-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Empty Promises of Nuclear Energy in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Power Shift Africa and Recourse have drafted this briefing examining South Africa\u2019s Koeberg Nuclear Power Station\u2014the continent\u2019s only operational nuclear plant\u2014and raising concerns about the risks of treating nuclear energy as a \u201cgreen\u201d solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">South Africa approved a 20-year extension costing over R21 billion ($1.12 billion), despite struggling with ageing infrastructure and safety risks, and without public consultation. Communities near Koeberg, especially women and youth, were left in the dark about evacuation plans, radioactive waste, and their safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is an energy issue as well as a justice issue. While MDBs flirt with funding new nuclear projects, Koeberg stands as a warning: nuclear power in Africa repeats old patterns of exclusion, secrecy, and exploitation instead of advancing a just, people-centred transition.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in South Africa is one such example. Although not MDB-&#8216;nanced, Koeberg offers an important lesson: nuclear energy should not be treated by MDBs as a viable pathway for climate or development &#8216;nance, whether through extending the lifespan of ageing reactors or considering new nuclear projects. As the World Bank reopens the door to nuclear power, Koeberg is a stark reminder of the safety, cost, and justice risks MDBs would take on. MDBs should instead prioritise investments that align with just transition principles and deliver genuine bene&#8217;ts for communities, particularly women, youth, and the most vulnerable.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":6114,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[26,25],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-6507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publications","tag-climate-finance","tag-energy-transition"],"acf":{"url":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Nuclear-energy-in-South-Africa_Banking-on-Renewables_Oct-2025.pdf"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6683,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6507\/revisions\/6683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6507"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=6507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}