by: SARAH TAYLOR

The possibility of Bantamsklip becoming the site of a nuclear power plant is back on the cards, 15 years after being withdrawn in a previous scouting experience. And Overberg environmentalists and action groups have leapt back into action to protect the biodiverse and ecologically sensitive fynbos and marine area.

Eskom is proposing to establish a 5 200MW nuclear power plant (NPP) and associated infrastructure at Bantamsklip or at Thyspunt in the Kouga municipal area of the Eastern Cape, both of which require an environmental impact authorisation (EIA).

Bantamsklip is a rocky stretch of coastline us about 23km south-east of Gansbaai and 10km from Dyer Island, an important breeding area for the critically endangered African penguin and other seabirds, such as the threatened bank cormorant, Cape cormorant and roseate tern.

It is also the heart of South Africa’s shark cage diving industry with at least 11 shark species inhabiting the area and is a critical conservation area for great white sharks, southern right whales, Cape fur seals and dolphins.

Just 10km from Bantamsklip is Dyer Island and nearby Geyser Island,which host 48 bird species and are a breeding area for 21 of them, according to Ramsar. In 2019, Ramsar declared Dyer Island and Geyser Island Provincial Nature Reserve as a Wetland of International Importance and are managed by CapeNature.

Rodney Anderson of the Save Bantamsklip Campaign told The Village News “This coastline forms a critical biodiversity hotspot and a major tourism anchor for the region. Once disturbed, it cannot be rehabilitated.

“Establishing a nuclear plant at Bantamsklip would permanently alter one of our most pristine coastlines, affecting tourism, livelihoods, property values, wildlife, and future generations.”

Trudi Malan, Conservation manager of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust, concurred: “For both Thyspunt and Bantamsklip, the sheer environmental impact of an industrial development of that scale is massive. Whether it’s a nuclear power station or a new suburb, it’s the scale of the development – we would be against any development of this scale on this site. The fact that it’s nuclear is an added thing; some people don’t want nuclear, some people do. That’s not what we’re fighting. We are fighting the massive development.

“We’re consulting with lawyers about challenging the process. The sites were selected (in the 1980s) when environmental, social, and biodiversity concerns were not sufficiently considered. Everything is restarting now.

She noted that the impacts of this kind of development are huge, “not just on the environment but also on the communities”. A study done on the impact of a similar big development and the results were frightening, she noted, with mushrooming informal settlements, insufficient services and higher HIV rates.

Dyer Island is considered by Birdlife International to be one of 103 globally Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in South Africa.

“This ecosystem is one of the most productive areas of ocean in the world and is characterised by coastal wind-induced upwelling which results in cold, nutrient rich-water being transported to the surface,” Ramsar states. “This upwelled water is the basis for the high biological productivity of the coastal waters along the west coast of southern Africa and is a rich feeding ground of a number of marine species making it a system of considerable biodiversity value.”

Anderson registered his NPO’s objections to the development of a power station at both Bantamsklip and Thyspunt previously in 2011 when Eskom was exploringt suitable sites, after which Duynefontein near Milnerton/Koeberg Nuclear Power Station was selected as one site, and environmental approval was granted.

Anderson said Bantamsklip “lies within the hottest internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot”.

“Building a nuclear power station at this site would also be damaging for tourism, including for boat-based whale watching and shark-cage diving companies which operate in the Kleinbaai/Gansbaai area.”

CAPTION

A southern right whale rises near the surface of the ocean close to the shore near Bantamsklip, a possible site of a new nuclear power plant. These majestic marine mammals visit our shores annually to calve and mate. PHOTO: Sarah Taylor