Thyspunt deserves facts, not fear or false hope

For decades, the proposed Thyspunt nuclear power station has divided the Eastern Cape.

It has become one of those projects that resurfaces every few years with renewed promises, renewed objections and renewed uncertainty.

The debate has shifted again.

The final scoping report prepared for Eskom recommends that Thyspunt, near Cape St Francis, moves forward as the preferred site for a proposed 5,200MW nuclear power station.

It recommends that the alternative site at Bantamsklip in the Western Cape falls away.

The report is now with the department of forestry, fisheries and environment for consideration.

For supporters of Thyspunt, this is welcome news.

For those against, it is a worrying shift in the project they believed had effectively been settled when the department rejected Thyspunt in favour of another site in 2017.

Both sides deserve to be heard.

Eastern Cape residents understand the consequences of stagnant economic growth, high unemployment and declining industrial activity.

A project of this scale would create thousands of construction jobs, improve infrastructure and boost the provincial economy.

Yet the economic argument, convincing as it may be, cannot be the only one.

Opponents have consistently pointed to Thyspunt’s extraordinary environmental sensitivity.

The coastline supports globally significant biodiversity, while scientists have identified stretches of the southern and Eastern Cape coast as forming part of what has become known as the coastal cradle of modern humankind, containing archaeological evidence that has reshaped our understanding of early Homo sapiens.

These are matters of national and international heritage.

SA’s Integrated Resource Plan calls for an additional 5,200MW of nuclear power by 2039.

While construction has yet to begin on the 4,000MW already approved for Duynefontein, the Wildlife and Environment Society’s Eastern Cape branch has questioned why a further 5,200MW is even being sought.

A valid point in the debate.

Then, large infrastructure projects have too often promised prosperity but delivered ballooning costs, delays and governance failures.

Eskom, itself, is still rebuilding public confidence after years of load shedding.

The Eastern Cape certainly needs investment. It certainly needs jobs.

But it also deserves that the decision shaping our coastline for generations be based on all the available evidence.

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