The risks of adding nuclear energy to South Africa’s power grid outweigh its economic benefits, the country’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission said as it called for a halt to nuclear procurement plans and a referendum on the issue. South Africa is in a financial crisis and cannot afford the new nuclear plants, reported to cost about $100 billion, the commission said in a statement on Dec. 29 from its chairman, Bishop Abel Gabuza of Kimberley. The statement, which followed an announcement that the government would go ahead with plans to add 9,600 megawatts of nuclear energy to the country’s strained grid and would call for bids, also raised concerns about the project’s vulnerability to corruption. The commission urged President Jacob Zuma’s administration to poll citizens on its plans. “Given the enormity of the risks that the South African government is asking its citizens to bear through the nuclear option, including the enormous safety risks and economic risks, it is only fair that the government directly consults its people on the matter,” said Bishop Gabuza.
Nuclear Power Risk
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
Frank Turnbull, S.J., a longtime editor at 'America' who died earlier this week, is remembered as a humble, quiet and yet forceful presence to those who knew him during his 85 years of life.
A Reflection for Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time, by Zac Davis
Trauma-informed spirituality knows better than to promise that prayer will take away all the pain. But it can offer the hope that, even in the midst of pain, there can be moments of feeling whole.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telephoned Pope Leo XIV, who urged Israel’s leader to revive negotiations and enact a ceasefire.