Eskom on Collision course with Thyspunt Alliance

The public and stakeholders meetings held on Thursday and Friday last week in St Francis Bay, Cape St Francis and Sea Vista has residents fuming. From these meetings it was very apparent that Eskom has decided on Thyspunt, despite the site being totally unsuitable given a host of factors. Virtually all civic bodies are outraged and have formed the Thyspunt Alliance in order to put a stop to the siting of the plant at Thyspunt.

It appears as if Eskom has yet again not done its homework and has tried to take a shortcut with scant regard to the effect on the South African landscape, the sociological impact of its planned action and on the environment.

Let’s look at the facts:

South Africa needs power and the Eastern Cape has been identified as an area where power is needed. The demand for Power is however in the industrial corridor between Port Elizabeth and East London. It just so happens that this is also where the labour force and skills base is situated and the majority of impoverished communities live.

Eskom only asked its consultants Arcus Gibb to evaluate five sites along the entire South African Coast. These sites were however those that Eskom selected thirty years ago when the Transkei and Ciskei were left out of any Escom assessment due to the facts that they were homelands. Since then the demographics, politics, technology and environments across South Africa have changed. Which private organization would launch a billion rand project on decisions made thirty years ago?

Eskom would be forced to transport by road all the heavy equipment needed to construct a Nuclear Power Plant over four times the size of Cape Towns Koeberg plant! This would require that around 100 .mega truckloads carrying plant and equipment would “crawl” to Thyspunt daily for over seven years! The weight of these trucks would be such that all the roads on bridges along the N3 such as the Van Stadens Bridge would either have to be rebuilt or strengthened. To make matters worse these trucks would be directed, around PE, along the N3, down the main street of Humansdorp, past St Francis Bay and then across to Thyspunt. Apart from these trucks there would be a fleet of around 850 vehicles that would have to service Thyspunt. These vehicles would be required to work shifts and as such would be running 24 hours a day.

Near Thyspunt the proposed road would now cross a sensitive moving dune field where none of the specialists employed by Eskom are prepared to commit themselves as to the affects of this action. The underground water course and subsequent replenishment of existing boreholes and water supplies could for example be negatively affected.

Unfortunately the consequences of siting the Nuclear Power plant at Thyspunt would even be more devastating to residents living in the area. It is estimated that despite the fact that a small percentage of locals would be employed. There would be a huge migration of people into the area looking for work that would not be available. The sociological consequences could be catastrophic. Current schools/services are insufficient at present and would not be able to handle the influx of people. The Moss Gas experience was that over seven times as many people flowed into the area as there were jobs available. Very few of these migrants left which has caused many undesirable “challenges” such as unemployment, crime and provision of infrastructure.

To date the exact route of the huge unsightly power lines has not been finalized but from Thyspunt to Coega where the power is needed two corridors of power lines will cut through what can only be regarded as pristine countryside on one of the most popular tourist routes in the country. The staggering cost of erecting these lines the loss of energy due to friction and ongoing maintenance costs makes the decision to place the plant at Thyspunt a costly one. This again leads to public distrust of Escom’s honesty or competence.

What is evident during discussions with Eskom and its consultants is that there are numerous critical errors and miscalculations in there Specialist Reports. These errors and misrepresentations have once again been pointed out to Arcus Gibb and hopefully the next Draft Impact Report will reflect the facts more accurately address the concerns of the local populations. The intention of the Thyspunt Alliance and its legal representatives, is to ensure that Eskom reevaluates its position. Should this not happen the citizens of RSA are once again likely to be negatively impacted by stupid and costly mistakes which result from Eskom’s incompetence.