Inside AfriForum's plan to deploy modular nuclear reactors in SA

AfriForum, the vocal Afrikaner civil rights organisation, wants to deploy pebble-bed modular nuclear reactors (PBMRs) in South African communities to help solve the country’s crippling energy woes. But why PBMRs? And how will the project work exactly? It might seem strange for a non-governmental organisation like AfriForum to want to involve itself in electricity generation, but the move makes perfect sense, argues Johan Kruger, its head of community independence. This is especially so as the state is failing to provide basic services like electricity, necessitating the involvement of private capital. Kruger joined TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod on the TechCentral Show (TCS) – previously, TC|Daily – to discuss AfriForum’s plans. (Watch or listen to the interview below.) In the show, Kruger unpacks how AfriForum wants to help homeowners and businesses extricate themselves from the Eskom mess by deploying their own power generation systems, including rooftop solar. In the longer term, the organisation hopes to work with the private sector to reduce or entirely eliminate communities’ dependence on the state for electricity supply. Kruger explains that the government’s inability to provide not only electricity reliably, but also water and other basic services, means that many of these will be offered in future by the private sector or by communities themselves working with private entities. Rapport and City Press reported on 22 January that AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel was engaging with André Pienaar, a South African businessman and founder and CEO of C5 Capital – a venture capital firm that invests in companies focused on space, cybersecurity and nuclear energy – about deploying PBMRs in South Africa. C5 Capital is an investor in X-Energy, a US company whose staff includes senior South African nuclear scientists. X-energy is taking forward some of the pioneering work into PBMRs that was done on South African soil before government withdrew its funding for the project in 2010. In this episode of TCS, Kruger unpacks the South African origin of the PBMR technology and what an AfriForum-supported deployment of modular reactors into communities might look like. Don’t miss this fascinating interview!