Cape residents oppose nuclear power station

Residents opposed to the building of a nuclear power station at Bantamsklip on the southern Cape coast staged a protest march through Hermanus in December and handed a memorandum to the Overstrand municipality, saying the local authority had failed to represent their interests by supporting the proposed nuclear power plant.

John Williams, chairperson of the Save Bantamsklip Association, said on Sunday that about 300 people had marched through the town to protest against a proposal by Eskom to build nuclear reactors in "one of the hottest biodiversity hot spots in the world".

"Eskom says they want to build two 4 000MW nuclear power plants at this site which is a registered South African Natural Heritage Site and contains vegetation that occurs nowhere else in the world. It's a centre of endemism.

"Yet the mayor of Overstrand (Theo Beyleveld) has stated categorically that he regards the nuclear plant as a growth potential and said Eskom had hinted they would build schools and facilities as a spin-off," Williams said.

"We're saying that there is a big body of opinion that is dead against it. The municipality is utterly wrong," Williams said.

He said his organisation, which included ratepayers' associations, tourism associations, environmental groups and agricultural organisations, represented about 5 000 people.

The memorandum called on the municipality to formulate a "factually-based" Overstrand council position on the proposed Bantamsklip nuclear power station, on which the public could then comment.

It also called on the mayor to commission an independent study to determine the "true tourism and natural resource values" of the Bantamsklip site, and to determine the comparative merits of allowing a nuclear power plant to be built at the site.

The organisation criticised the municipality for failing to submit relevant information to the EIA consultants.

"The mayor been saying 'hey guys, this is a golden opportunity for us'. We're saying our environment is the very essence of our economy here. If we don't see the link between environment and economy, we are lost. We want to know if this (supporting the nuclear power plant) is DA policy or old Broederbond policy?" Williams said.

On Sunday, Beyleveld denied that he had said he supported the nuclear power station.

"I never said that. It's a lie. I said it's a growth potential but if it's going to harm the environment we must re-look it. My opinion is we need electricity but we must also conserve our natural beauty. We need to let the EIA process be completed," Beyleveld said.

He said three Overstrand councillors had made input into the EIA.

Beyleveld said "only 90 or 110 people" had been on the protest march.

"There are 38 000 voters. I can't become part of a pressure group," he said.

Cape Times

Posted at 09:26AM Jan 04, 2010 by Editor in Residential  |  Comments[7]