THYSPUNT
The Thyspunt Alliance is a group formed to represent the interests of the various civic, resident, sporting and environmental associations in the Kouga Municipality.) It includes organisations such as FOSTER, SFB and CSF Civic Associations, Kromme River Tust, Seavista Forum, Gamtkwa Khoisan Council and others.
FOSTER is represented on the Alliance by Richard and Shirley Cowling and Helmie Tilders.
They have put a huge amount of work into presenting a united, well-researched and informed case against the proposed siting of a nuclear power plant at Thyspunt.
DECEMBER 2011 UPDATE
Eskom is still going ahead buying up land in various parts of the Kouga area.
Eskom is creating the impression that the Thyspunt Nuke is a fait accompli. Senior Eskom personnel have stated this on a number of public occasions.
Eskom is creating the impression that there will be thousands of jobs for local people.
Certain articles in the press have left the impression that the Kouga Municipality is 100% behind the Thyspunt NPS.
WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATUS?
At present the 2nd Draft Environmental Impact Assessment report has not been finalised, so all of the above is either nonsense or premature.
At present the studies on Transport, Marine (Squid), and Heritage/Archaeology of the 2nd Draft EIA are being revised. Once this has been done, the Economic impact assessment will similarly have to be re-done.
As far as we are aware, these items will only be finalised early 2012. After that, the law requires that the public be allowed a 45 day period in which to comment. Only then will we have a final EIA, which can be submitted to the Department of Environmental Affairs. Before the Record of Decision (ROD) is published, there is a period open for comment. Once the ROD is published, there is an appeal period.
Only after all of the above, will finality be reached. Even then the process may be open to an appeal in court.
Do not be fooled by Eskom propaganda…..there is still a long way to go to the final decision!
As for the jobs created - (Using figures in the Draft EIA report and dividing these by factors that combine the number of municipal wards and population, the following can be concluded):
Amongst people living in the Sea Vista and Umzamuwetu (Oyster Bay) areas, a maximum of 65 persons will be employed during year 6 of the construction period, up from 10 in year 1 and ending in 31 in year 9.
This is a far cry from Eskom's promises made in public meetings.
We must assume that most of these jobs will be filled by Umzamuwetu people, since they live right next to the site.
So, employment of people from Sea Vista…….Maybe 3 or 4 in year 1, going up to 20 or so in year 6 and ending on say 10 in year 9.
This must be seen against the possible loss of hundreds or even thousands of jobs of squid industry workers (due to 6,3million cubic meters of spoil to be pumped into the ocean during construction).
It must also be seen against the huge expected influx of job seekers into the area. Furthermore, what Eskom does not mention is the fact that, upon conclusion of the construction phase, we will have some 30 000 people living in the area without breadwinners.
At a recent Kouga Municipal Councillors' meeting, members of the Council voted in favour of the Thyspunt NPS……by a majority of one vote. If one takes into account that 2 of the councillors voting in favour have been arrested by the Police on charges of fraud and assault respectively, one gets a better perspective of the Council decision. In fact, had they been arrested 2 weeks earlier, and been unable to vote, the Council decision would have gone against the NPS.
SO: Nothing is finalised. However, from now on we will be engaging experts to take the issues further.
We will need expert advice and input when we object to an EIA presented to the DEA for approval.
We will need expert technical and legal advice when we challenge a Record of Decision. We will need to engage the best legal experts available.
We need to be prepared to apply for a court injunction, should other avenues fail.
We believe that we have every chance of stopping the Eskom steamroller.
It will take determination from the whole community. It will also take money.
It's over to the community…….do we sit on our hands and wait for Eskom to ruin what we have here or do we fight them?
We believe we can win...but only with the commitment and financial support of the community.
This is an urgent appeal for funds. Payment can be made to:
Bank: Standard,
Acc Name: Residents' Association Nuclear Fund,
Branch Code: 05001500,
Acc Number: 186554788,
For payments from outside South Africa: Swift Code: SBZAZAJJ, Sorting code: 050015.
When making payment, please advise us so we can follow up: E-mail: helmie@intekom.co.za or fax 042 2980138.
Thyspunt Alliance
November 2011.
NUCLEAR 1 SALIENT POINTS OF EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.
The 2nd Draft EIA Report has finally been released. To read the full Executive Summary click here
Included below is the Thyspunt Alliance comment on the report
THYSPUNT NUCLEAR POWER STATION UPDATE
The much awaited 2nd Draft EIA has finally been released by Arcus Gibb, consultants to ESKOM on the NPS project. It is, as before, a lengthy document and requires time to study in detail. As before, Thyspunt has been identified as the preferred site. Following are comments based on studying the Executive summary of this report, as well as a cursory glance of the full version:
ESKOM and their consultants, Arcus Gibb, have to a large extent ignored comments made by a number of interested and affected parties, including the Thyspunt Alliance, and experts canvassed by the Alliance:
1) With respect to Geo-Hydrology, the new Draft EIA totally ignores input from Prof Fred Ellery, an expert in this field. (The report simply states that “there is no evidence of debris flows at the site or that conditions exist for debris flow”).
2) The report ignores a study and comments made by Dr Johan Binneman, a leading archaeologist. The report does not deal with the subject of archaeology of the site in spite of the matter being repeatedly raised in comments on the first Draft EIA. The site happens to be of major archaeological importance, covering time spans of millennia.
3) The site is of major importance in terms of the cultural heritage of the Khoisan people. The South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) has refused to approve the relevant Heritage Impact Scoping Report. Last year the minister of Arts and Culture stated that the NPS would not be built at Thyspunt for this very reason. The consultants to ESKOM deal with this matter by stating that an application has been made to SAHRA for a permit to perform test excavations.
4) The report states simply that the squid industry will only minimally be affected. This is in spite of the fact that various experts appointed by the South African Squid Management Association (SASMIA) have stated the contrary. Pumping 6,3 million cubic meters of sand into South Africa’s prime squid breeding ground will have a huge affect and will in all likelihood spell the end of the St Francis squid industry.
5) The report concedes that the surf break at Cape St Francis may be adversely affected by the above spoil pumped into the sea at the building site. If this is accepted, then it must also be accepted that the ocean floor will be covered by un-natural (ex-land based) sand…….which MUST affect the squid!
6) The report does not deal with the fact that the R330 (Humansdorp – Cape St Francis road) will be used as the main transport road to the site during the 8 odd years of construction. During peak traffic times a heavy vehicle will pass any given point every 90 seconds. There will also be times when extra heavy vehicles will stop all normal traffic on this road for many hours. We may add that ESKOM has already bought land to the West of Sea Vista to build the extension of the road through to the NPS site
7) The report incorrectly states that agriculture will be positively affected by the NPS project! (Cows produce more milk when near an NPS or transmission lines?)
8) Little, if any attention is paid to the fact that the project will employ some 8000 people during construction, and the effects of this influx. Also little attention is paid to what happens to the workforce after completion of the project.
9) Arcus Gibb state that they have found a route for their heavy vehicles to by-pass Humansdorp during the construction phase. The “new” route uses Saffery Road, which runs through a residential area and is already used extensively by traffic avoiding the Humansdorp main road, en route to SFB and CSF.
10) Reading the main report, it is clear that the technology to be used has not been finalised. Certain conclusions drawn in the report are therefore premature.
11) The main report states that the predominant wind is “West-Northwest to Northwest”. This is INCORRECT and makes a huge difference to disaster management planning. The correct predominant wind direction is South West, which places Cape St Francis and St Francis Bay right in the path of any possible nuclear contamination in case of a disaster. (Arcus Gibb’s/Eskoms above claimed wind direction has the opposite effect. They have stuck to this incorrect wind direction in spite of the Thyspunt Alliance repeatedly pointing out the mistake.)
The above are some of the salient points…….the list could go on much longer. We plan to do our best to stop this project at this, the EIA stage. However, we need to face up to the fact that the only way in which ESKOM can be stopped may be in Court. For this we have started to put together a War Chest. We need to have at least R500.000 at our disposal for the 1st phase of a Court battle and to cover interim legal expenses. Thanks to some large donations out War Chest has R140.000 in it, so there is a long way to go. And we have to go all the way if need be!
PLEASE DONATE! We have established a bank account under the auspices of the St Francis Bay Residents’ Association. This will be administered and audited by the said Association. Account details are:
Bank: Standard Bank
Name: Residents’ Association Nuclear Fund
Branch Code 050015
Acc Number 186554788
When making an electronic payment, please send your details to Cindy Evans, cindy@countryfeeling.co.za .
(Postal details P.O.Box 1300, Jeffrey’s Bay 6300).
In the event of the war chest not being used, we undertake to re-imburse our donors or, with their permission to donate the money to registered charities of our donors’ choice.
Thyspunt Alliance,
May 2011.
