Appraisal of Nuclear Energy as an Alternative Option in South Africa’s Energy Scenario: A Multicriteria Analysis

South Africa is being confronted with an irregular power supply, leading to persistent load shedding due to aged and unreliable coal-fired power plants. Connected with coal as a generating source for electricity from fossil fuels are environmental concerns such as emissions of greenhouse gases and c...

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Autores principales: Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure, Ephraim Bonah Agyekum, Olatunde Samod Durowoju, Karabo Shale, Nthaduleni Samuel Nethengwe, Georges-Ivo Ekosse Ekosse, Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo
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Publicado: MDPI AG 2021
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:2b455fc28c80431c877f1ffbfaf53d782021-11-11T15:23:35ZAppraisal of Nuclear Energy as an Alternative Option in South Africa’s Energy Scenario: A Multicriteria Analysis10.3390/app1121103492076-3417https://doaj.org/article/2b455fc28c80431c877f1ffbfaf53d782021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/21/10349https://doaj.org/toc/2076-3417South Africa is being confronted with an irregular power supply, leading to persistent load shedding due to aged and unreliable coal-fired power plants. Connected with coal as a generating source for electricity from fossil fuels are environmental concerns such as emissions of greenhouse gases and climate change impacts. Nuclear energy can allay the country’s dependence on coal as a source of energy. This article, therefore, reviews the feasibility of nuclear energy using a multicriteria analysis technique. A combination of Strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to evaluate the external and internal factors that could either positively or negatively affect the country’s nuclear energy expansion drive. From the analysis, the country’s enabling laws and regulatory framework recorded the highest score of 39.2% under the strengths for the sector. In the case of the weaknesses, the high cost of construction and long construction framework recorded the highest weight, of 50.47%. Energy export and demand under the opportunities recorded a weight of 52.09%, ranking it as the highest opportunity for the sector. Seismic events were identified as the biggest threat for nuclear power expansion in the country, and the experts assigned a weight of 42.5% to this factor.Solomon Eghosa UhunamureEphraim Bonah AgyekumOlatunde Samod DurowojuKarabo ShaleNthaduleni Samuel NethengweGeorges-Ivo Ekosse EkosseTomiwa Sunday AdebayoMDPI AGarticlenuclear energySouth Africamulticriteria analysisAnalytical Hierarchy ProcessSWOT analysisTechnologyTEngineering (General). Civil engineering (General)TA1-2040Biology (General)QH301-705.5PhysicsQC1-999ChemistryQD1-999ENApplied Sciences, Vol 11, Iss 10349, p 10349 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic nuclear energy
South Africa
multicriteria analysis
Analytical Hierarchy Process
SWOT analysis
Technology
T
Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
TA1-2040
Biology (General)
QH301-705.5
Physics
QC1-999
Chemistry
QD1-999
spellingShingle nuclear energy
South Africa
multicriteria analysis
Analytical Hierarchy Process
SWOT analysis
Technology
T
Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
TA1-2040
Biology (General)
QH301-705.5
Physics
QC1-999
Chemistry
QD1-999
Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure
Ephraim Bonah Agyekum
Olatunde Samod Durowoju
Karabo Shale
Nthaduleni Samuel Nethengwe
Georges-Ivo Ekosse Ekosse
Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo
Appraisal of Nuclear Energy as an Alternative Option in South Africa’s Energy Scenario: A Multicriteria Analysis
description South Africa is being confronted with an irregular power supply, leading to persistent load shedding due to aged and unreliable coal-fired power plants. Connected with coal as a generating source for electricity from fossil fuels are environmental concerns such as emissions of greenhouse gases and climate change impacts. Nuclear energy can allay the country’s dependence on coal as a source of energy. This article, therefore, reviews the feasibility of nuclear energy using a multicriteria analysis technique. A combination of Strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to evaluate the external and internal factors that could either positively or negatively affect the country’s nuclear energy expansion drive. From the analysis, the country’s enabling laws and regulatory framework recorded the highest score of 39.2% under the strengths for the sector. In the case of the weaknesses, the high cost of construction and long construction framework recorded the highest weight, of 50.47%. Energy export and demand under the opportunities recorded a weight of 52.09%, ranking it as the highest opportunity for the sector. Seismic events were identified as the biggest threat for nuclear power expansion in the country, and the experts assigned a weight of 42.5% to this factor.
format article
author Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure
Ephraim Bonah Agyekum
Olatunde Samod Durowoju
Karabo Shale
Nthaduleni Samuel Nethengwe
Georges-Ivo Ekosse Ekosse
Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo
author_facet Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure
Ephraim Bonah Agyekum
Olatunde Samod Durowoju
Karabo Shale
Nthaduleni Samuel Nethengwe
Georges-Ivo Ekosse Ekosse
Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo
author_sort Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure
title Appraisal of Nuclear Energy as an Alternative Option in South Africa’s Energy Scenario: A Multicriteria Analysis
title_short Appraisal of Nuclear Energy as an Alternative Option in South Africa’s Energy Scenario: A Multicriteria Analysis
title_full Appraisal of Nuclear Energy as an Alternative Option in South Africa’s Energy Scenario: A Multicriteria Analysis
title_fullStr Appraisal of Nuclear Energy as an Alternative Option in South Africa’s Energy Scenario: A Multicriteria Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Appraisal of Nuclear Energy as an Alternative Option in South Africa’s Energy Scenario: A Multicriteria Analysis
title_sort appraisal of nuclear energy as an alternative option in south africa’s energy scenario: a multicriteria analysis
publisher MDPI AG
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/2b455fc28c80431c877f1ffbfaf53d78
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