Madam Deputy Speaker, I just want to thank the hon members, particularly the members from the portfolio committee - Selau, Lucas and Koornhof - for the matter they raised, namely that of the challenges that are faced by the Japanese in relation to the nuclear reactor where there was an incident because of the earthquake and tsunami.
I just want to indicate that as a country we are waiting for the International Atomic Energy Agency's assessment of the situation. They have sent technical people. We in South Africa also belong to this particular forum. Eskom is part of the international utilities that also have nuclear power plants and are participating in the discussions. They are getting daily briefings about what is happening in Japan.
What we also believe is that we need to take lessons from what is happening in Japan at the moment. All members of the portfolio committee will remember that when they were presented with the different energy carriers, they were given an indication that all of the different energy carriers carry within themselves some risks and some safety issues.
I want to refer to the statement of the National Nuclear Regulator, NNR, which is the regulator that is observing and monitoring Koeberg, so that members of the House can rest assured that some work has been taking place since Friday when this incident happened.
In relation to Koeberg, these are the indications. Koeberg is a Generation 2 reactor. Unlike the Japanese boiling water reactor, it is prepared for the type of responses that must necessarily take place in the event of a particular incident.
In the case of a total loss of power supply, which is what happened at Fukushima, Koeberg has developed a set of Severe Accident Management Guidelines, which would mitigate the consequences of such an unlikely event.
In regard to the total loss of electrical power supply, as happened at Fukushima, the operators at Koeberg are regularly trained and examined to cope with such an event. In this regard, Koeberg is equipped with steam- driven cooling pumps and protected water supplies which operate in the absence of electrical power. These could be run until a controlled shutdown is achieved.
Even if nuclear fuel damage were to occur in the reactor, Koeberg is equipped with hydrogen recombiners which do not require an electrical power supply. This should ordinarily prevent the explosion experienced at the Fukushima Daiichi plant due to the hydrogen build-up.
Given the location of the diesel fuel and diesel intakes at Koeberg, it is considered that even a 10m high water level would not cause the emergency diesel generators at Koeberg to fail, as was the case with Fukushima.
Koeberg and the City of Cape Town have an emergency plan, which is tested regularly every 18 months and which is applied to a radius of 22 km, as well as contingency plans beyond this distance. You will remember that the Japanese one was 10 km, and it was extended to 20 km from the plant.
I want to make a special appeal. Two weeks ago we were given an indication that there is encroachment on Koeberg by the community, by way of human settlements. This is something I intend to engage with the municipality on, because it is important to understand that there is a particular required internationally or globally acceptable distance that people are supposed to live away from a nuclear plant.
I want to indicate that we need to draw lessons from any crisis situation, which we feel is the case with the people of Japan. We need to check for risks and be able to prepare ourselves better as human beings better. That is the stance that we will take at the moment. It is important for us to sleep on the matter and not to rush into policy decisions which we might regret later.
South Africa is endowed with the technical capacity even to be able to help the Japanese. I believe that Eskom has also engaged with them in order to be able to make this assistance available. This would not necessarily be supporting them with nuclear matters, but making sure that they can restore power to the affected areas, because the country is highly damaged.
All of us who saw what happened could get worried. It is important that we try to understand the circumstances that led to the double tragedy, now triple tragedy because of the potential incidents. We still call this an incident, but if it reaches levels 5, 6 and 7 it will then be called an accident. For now it is still called an incident, and it is under control. Thank you very much. [Applause.]