Editorial

The communities on the West Coast have lived quite tranquilly alongside the Eskom nuclear plant, which, to our knowledge, has been safely operated, apart from the odd bolt falling into the works, since its inception in 1984.

Although Koeberg’s existence is a seemingly peaceful one, nuclear energy remains a dangerous energy source which could have devastating effects when mishandled. This is something that should never be far from the minds of those living in the shadow of Koeberg. If a Chernobyl-scale disaster were to strike Koeberg, it wouldn’t just be Melkbosstrand and Table View residents checking their homeowner’s insurance policies. Alarmist? Perhaps. But can we all stake our lives on the fact that whatever multi-billion rand deal is struck to build a fleet of nuclear power plants, will be completely free of corruption? Unmotivated by profit, they will be more than willing to use only the highest quality materials to make the plant that much safer from acts of God like tsunamis and earthquakes, which of course are never going to happen. Alarmist? You decide.