St Francis Bay Residents Association

THYSPUNT – THE DEBATE HOTS UP
Consultants, specialists, Eskom and community members from the Greater St Francis area met on Tuesday to debate issues associated with the proposed Thyspunt nuclear site.
The community bodies do not dispute the need for more power generation in South Africa, the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, or the desirability of having a power station in the Eastern Cape. However, they say that Thyspunt was selected 30 years ago, under totally different circumstances from today’s, and that Eskom should be re-considering whether Thyspunt remains the first choice, in the light of the changes that have occurred in the interim, and in the light of problem areas which have emerged during the EIA process.. These include advances in nuclear technology, with their reduced Emergency Planning Zones, which make it easier to place plants closer to population centres and points of consumption, and  the development of the Coega Industrial Development Zone, with its huge appetite for power and its available existing & appropriate infra-structure They also cite legislative changes, notably the National Environment Management Act, with its focus on protecting the environment from undesirable development, and the huge cost of associated infra-structure (R5 – R10 billion rand) for up-grade of road systems and transmission lines. They are objecting to the manner in which the EIA is being conducted, which consistently favours Eskom. This includes the failure by Eskom and the consultants to provide material information, without which it is impossible to give a considered response, and errors and omissions in the specialist reports.
All of the reports and ensuing discussion raised serious issues involved with the Thyspunt site. For example, the Marine Oceanography report threatened the livelihood of the 4000 people employed by the chokka industry, without even consulting with the Chokka Scientific Working Group. The Traffic & Transport Assessment ignored the huge costs involved in upgrades to the N2, and the construction of a new and problematic access road, and focused only on traffic movement from the N2 to Sea Vista, including using Humansdorp Main Street for heavy-load  traffic! No attention was paid to the social impact of this. Many other environmental and social issues arose which were glossed over.
The overwhelming impression gained by the community is that Thyspunt is a very poor choice of site for a nuclear power station; that Eskom is determined to press ahead, irrespective of the clear shortcomings and unnecessary costs; that the EIA process is being treated as a formality, with a pre-determined outcome; and that the whole manner in which the EIA is being handled needs to be challenged at the highest level.