CSIR’s research shows that renewables cost 60c/kWh over the life cycle. This is half the cost of nuclear which is R1.20-R1.30 per kWk over the life cycle. The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REI4P) has already generated nearly R200 billion in 92 projects. Those have have been built have been built on time and within budget, which is definitely not the case with Medupi. A nuclear plant will take ten years, and they always cost more. The debate about nuclear is now quite simply about rands and cents: renewables are the cheapest. They can also deliver baseload if they are geographically distributed on a large scale. Also, salt batteries can give Concentrated Solar Power plants storage capacity of up to 14 hours if so needed. In short, if we are really interested in a diversified innovation-driven economy, we must scrap the idea of nuclear and invest in renewables. This is NOT what the soon to be released IRP will say: the new IRP will have been written to just the need for nuclear because there are powerful forces who have already decided that nuclear is best. ESKOM has mounted a PR campaign against renewables. This needs to be countered on a daily basis by as many people as possible. The CSIR report provides the basis for this campaign. 
Does the cost of Nuclear include decommissioning?…that’s basically the cost of building it and then some…
And those costs do NOT reflect the so-called externalities, specifically not the long term liability of radioactive materials
This ‘life-cycle’ cost does not include decommissioning or the storage of nuclear waste.
Seema and all our team at CapesiSam .
Likely also doesn’t include insurance.
Nuclear projects are never insured because no company will carry them. The state retains liability.
Exactly! It wouldn’t be a viable industry if it had to pay for insurance. Perverse subsidy.
Jigisha Mandalia
Yugesh Pillay