Enterprise Africa - November 2017

uclear power is a subject that polarises opinion. Much like the global political environment nowadays, it tends to fall into a binary choice – Trump or Clinton, Remain or Leave, to build more nuclear power stations or not. In fact, the arguments are far more nuanced than this and can be debated long into the night when you consider the many factors that influence a choice of one particular direction.

In this edition of Enterprise Africa we focus on one undoubted positive of the South African nuclear program – the production of nuclear medicine which has grown by 25% in the last year. CEO Phumzile Tshelane tells us about opportunities for further growth with a Canadian manufacturer ceasing production of medical isotopes. We also look at the challenges facing the growth of the SA nuclear program, which despite its vocal opposition is one of the largest and most successful globally.

It isn’t just the nuclear market that South Africa is looking to lead the way – eyes from the global scientific market are on South Africa and the progression of the SKA project which when complete will be the largest radio telescope ever built. The precursor to the SKA – the MeerKAT telescope has already proven its value with contributions to ground breaking research into gravitational waves, and further proves that SA has an important role to play in future collaborations.