The National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute (NRWDI) is moving ahead with preliminary designs for a so-called Centralised Interim Storage Facility (CISF) at the Vaalputs site in the Northern Cape to store spent fuel arising from Eskom’s Koeberg nuclear power station.

While the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, or Necsa, currently holds the licence to operate the Vaalputs radioactive waste disposal facility, NRWDI is in the process of seeking to have the licence transferred.

This, owing to the fact that NRWDI has the statutory mandate to manage radioactive waste disposal in South Africa.

Depending on regulatory approvals, NRWDI anticipates that the Vaalputs Nuclear Installation Licence could be transferred in July, which will also generate revenue for NRWDI in the form of waste disposal fees from radioactive waste generators, in particular Necsa and Eskom.

The revenue, which is estimated at about R50-million over the coming three years, will be used for the Vaalputs low-level waste disposal function.

However, CEO Riedewaan Bakardien told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Electricity and Energy that NRWDI was also progressing plans for the development of a CISF to be used for the long-term storage of Koeberg’s spent nuclear fuel from 2030 onwards.

Koeberg’s used-fuel assemblies are currently either in spent-fuel pools at units 1 and 2, or in dry storage casks on site and their transfer to an offsite disposal facility has been described as being urgent for some years.

That urgency has increased in light of the fact that Unit 1 received a licence to operate for a further 20 years to July 2044, while Unit 2 is also seeking approval to have its licence extended for 20 years.

Bakardien said the above-ground CISF will provide the interim solution for high level radioactive waste storage in the absence of a deep geological repository, which was currently planned for development only by 2065.

An environmental-impact assessment was under way and NRWDI had awarded an engineering contract in March for the finalisation of a preliminary design.

Bakardien said the cost of the project would depend on the final design, but reported that previous estimates pointed to capital expenditure of R1.9-billion for the CISF.

A funding plan was still being developed and NRWDI was working with both Eskom and the Development Bank of Southern Africa to finalise the plan.

“We are mindful of the importance of public consultation in the site selection process and therefore want to assure all stakeholders that NRWDI will comply with all the requirements of the National Nuclear Regulator Act and National Environmental Management Act in terms of public participation.

“Based on preliminary site investigations done in the early 1990s the Vaalputs site is a candidate site for the establishment of the above ground off-site Centralised Interim Dry Storage Facility and Deep Geological Repository,” Bakardien told lawmakers.