South Africa’s National Nuclear Regulator (www.nnr.co.za) and China have signed a technical co-operation agreement that includes “licensing procedures, vendor inspections, inspector training, joint inspections and technical support” as part of South Africa’s plan to build eight new nuclear reactors.

The two countries signed a nuclear-energy co-operation agreement a year ago, which Pretoria said was in preparation for a “possible” utilisation of Chinese nuclear technology.

Similar agreements have been signed with Russia, France, the USA and South Korea, which are also bidding to win the South African nuclear-power plant construction programme — worth up to $50 billion.

NNR CEO Bismark Tyobeka said: “Bilateral co-operation arrangements such as these serve as a valuable mechanism for ensuring that the NNR’s regulatory practices are benchmarked against the best current standards and practices, as applied internationally within the nuclear industry.”

South Africa currently has one nuclear power station; it mostly relies on coal for electricity generation. The new reactors are expected to add 9,600MW to the country’s existing generating capacity of 30,000MW, with the first unit due to be ready in 2023. Critics say that the cost of the nuclear programme could “cripple” the country’s economy.

Meanwhile, state-owned China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) (www.cnnc.com.cn) has announced that it will finance and build two nuclear power plants in Argentina, in a deal estimated to be worth nearly $15 billion.

The company will work with Argentina’s own state-owned company (Nucleoelectrica) (www.na-sa.com.ar) to build the country’s fourth and fifth reactors.

One of them will use Canadian heavy-water technology, while the other will feature China’s Hualong One reactor.