Roadmap for new entrants into the South African nuclear manufacturing market

Abstract

There are 3 opportunities for non-nuclear suppliers to become part of the nuclear supply chain in South Africa. These are the announced New Nuclear Build (although being put on hold until finalisation of the IRP 2018), life extension of Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant and maintenance at the same plant. The expectation exists that it is an opportunity to get businesses on all levels (SMME to large corporates) involved, because the total budgeted cost would be close to ZAR1 035billion. This study determines the monetary value of localisation (the size of the local nuclear market) and how a company can become part of the nuclear supply chain. The electricity supply of South Africa depends mainly on coal fired power stations. Other sources are solar, hydroelectricity and wind. Nuclear power makes out about 6% of the mix. Climate change is forcing countries (including South Africa) to move to renewable energy sources. South Africa had licensed wind and solar plants and announced a New Nuclear Build (NNB) of 6 x 1600MW nuclear power stations. The literature study covers nuclear quality and nuclear safety, as well as the responsible entities. Their requirements for a nuclear Quality Management System including applicable codes and standards have been researched. Research was done on the commercial and other role players in the SA nuclear market, because they will be either the mentors or the competition for the new entrants. The UK NNB was studied because it followed a structured approach before announcing nuclear power plants (NPPs) to be built. The work packages of Hinkley Point C NPP were examined to establish the monetary value of each contract, and that was correlated with localisation values (%'s) from previous studies. The result is the estimated value of the manufacturing nuclear market. HPC has contracts to the value of GBP15 261m (ZAR259 437m) and an average localisation value of GBP1 254m (ZAR21 318m), being 8%. The complete NNB could be worth ZAR63 594m. In conclusion, Quality Management is found to be the most important factor to become a nuclear supplier. A roadmap is provided describing the steps to be taken in becoming a nuclear supplier.