Eskom in early talks with World Bank, other funders for nuclear expansion

South Africa’s state power utility Eskom is in exploratory talks with the World Bank over funding for a multibillion-dollar nuclear programme that could be launched within 12 months, a senior company official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Eskom, which runs Africa’s only operational nuclear power station near Cape Town, is preparing a request for information covering up to 5 200 megawatts of new capacity.

South Africa is seeking more baseload power – steady, always-on electricity supply – as it shifts away from coal, which still supplies most of its electricity.

Eskom is proposing 4 800 MW from conventional pressurised water reactors and 400 MW from small modular reactors (SMRs), with at least half of the SMR capacity earmarked for its coal-to-nuclear strategy.

“We are in exploratory discussions with most of the potential funders … (over) different ways of funding this,” Bheki Nxumalo, Eskom’s group executive for generation, said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Cape Town.

“We are … looking for