It is now definite. The Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (NIASA) (NIASA.co.za) in collaboration with South African Young Nuclear Professionals Society (SAYNPS), Women in Nuclear South Africa (WINSA) and Southern African Radiation Protection Society (SARPA) will be hosting a Nuclear Technology Imbizo (Conference) on the 16^th – 17^th March, 2022 at the Cape Town International Conference Centre. This year’s Imbizo will be devoted to “Promoting Global Strategic Partnership to Support the South African Nuclear Build Expansion Programme” and centered on sharing of lessons learnt and technology’s role in shaping the future of the South African nuclear industry.

The nuclear industry has faced many challenges in recent years including a difficult economic marketplace and overcoming the obstacles to train and educate a highly knowledgeable and skilled workforce amid a global pandemic. The event will bring together participants all over the world, senior Executives from the key industry stakeholders and governmental representatives to energy providers to bring ideas, innovations and best practices that have made a difference in the past decade and going forward.

“South Africa has experience massive loadshedding from Eskom in the last couple of years including recently in 2022, the power utility coal fleet is experience most breakdowns and as per the IRP2019 11500MW of this plant should be decommissioned from 2030. The much anticipated Request for Proposal (RFP) 2500MW for Nuclear New Build by end of financial is also an exciting news to the industry as NIASA believe the construction and commission of this generation capacity will provide much relieve to Eskom in terms despatchable electricity, South Africa needs to move with speed from high carbon emissions to low carbon emissions and will never be achieved without the inclusion of Nuclear Technology. NIASA is also appreciative of the news announced two weeks ago by Necsa with regard to the issuance of Request for Information (RFI) for the Multipurpose Research Reactor (MPR). The Imbizo will provide delegates including both International and Local Companies to engage on meaningful discussions on how best to implement such projects in South Africa. There will be an opportunity for face to face meeting for any companies interested in such, therefore this is an important calendar event for Nuclear Industry in South Africa”, Mr. Gaopalelwe Santswere, Deputy President at NIASA said.

Participating organizations will have an excellent opportunity to interact with a high target audience in the nuclear industry, enabling to not only lobby for their interests, but also network and tap into resources available from Africa.