South African utility Eskom has announced that unit 1 at its Koeberg nuclear power plant, which has been undergoing a long-term outage for maintenance and steam generator replacement, is now expected to return to service on 3 November. The start of similar work at Koeberg 2 has been postponed to 7 November to ensure that both units are not off line at the same time.

The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation and Russia's TVEL have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in the manufacture of nuclear fuel and its components.

In an interview for the World Nuclear News podcast Lassina Zerbo, the former head of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization and current chairman of the Rwanda Atomic Energy Board, set out his views on the prospects for nuclear energy in Africa in the years ahead.

Stratek Global hopes to produce a pilot plant of the High Temperature Modular Reactor (HTMR-100), which is derived from the South African Pebble Bed Modular Reactor programme.

South Africa's power system is severely constrained with a high risk of increased stages of loadshedding as the nation heads into winter, Eskom said this week. Unit 1 at the Koeberg nuclear power plant is expected to return to service in September.

The African Commission on Nuclear Energy has launched a five-year programme, Uplifting Nuclear Safeguards in Africa, which will have support from the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland and funding from the European Union and Finland.

The first of Koeberg 1's steam generators has been removed in a project that will see all three of the South African unit's steam generators replaced in anticipation of its extended operation. The steam generators of unit 2 at the plant, near Cape Town, are also to be replaced.

Measures outlined by the South African president in his State of the Nation Address include market reforms and the appointment a Minister of Electricity to assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response. The government has declared a national state of disaster to respond to the ongoing crisis.

South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has said there is "no immediate crisis" from the expiry of the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement between South Africa and the USA. Utility Eskom is relying on the return to service of Koeberg 1 later this year to help tackle ongoing capacity constraints.

Eskom Group Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer said the company will do whatever it can to meet the daunting capacity challenges facing South Africa, even as the company's two nuclear units at Koeberg face extended outages over the next 12 months.

Delays to the life extension of the Koeberg nuclear power plant would severely constrain South Africa's power system, according to Eskom's annual review of the adequacy of the integrated power system to meet requirements.

Discussions with ministers from several African countries have been held at the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference about nuclear power's potential role in helping economic development and water supply while also mitigating climate change as it provides clean and reliable energy.