South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) group corporate services executive Ambassador Xolisa Mabhongo stressed on Thursday that South Africa currently had only one Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for electricity, the IRP 2010, and that the IRP Update constantly referred to by nuclear opponents was merely a draft that was in the process of being revised.

Speaking during a debate on the future of nuclear energy in South Africa, co-hosted by EE Publishers and the Daily Maverick, Mabhongo said government was not ignoring important government documents, as had been suggested by opponents, and that a new IRP was yet to be published.

Necsa and Mabhongo are integral to the “preparatory” work currently being undertaken under the leadership of the Department of Energy ahead of what government says will be a fair and transparent nuclear procurement programme.

Prior to the debate, the Democratic Alliance’s Lance Greyling accused the African National Congress (ANC) of rewriting the conclusions of the government’s own energy plans as outlined in the IRP Update, published in 2013.

The draft update suggested that new nuclear either be delayed or possibly even abandoned if it was unable to meet specific cost thresholds.

The IRP 2010, by contrast, envisaged the introduction of 9 600 MW of new nuclear capacity by 2030 – a figure reiterated in media releases following the signing of recent nuclear framework agreements with the Russians and the French.

The ANC’s Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy chairperson Fikile Majola responded to Greyling by saying that the IRP Update would "not see the light of day".

Mabhongo indicated that a new IRP would be released in due course and that it would deviate from the draft IRP Update. He also stressed that nuclear was merely part of a mix that included renewable energy, coal, gas and hydropower.