The country plans to expand its nuclear industry and diversify its energy mix as it battles a crippling power shortage that has hit key mining, smelting and manufacturing sectors, trimming growth in the economy.

"The preference at the department is that we will use existing commercial reprocessing plants in the world for reprocessing spent fuel," said Tseliso Maqubela, the nuclear chief director of the minerals and energy department.

"In the medium to long term we will also look at whether it's economically viable to establish a reprocessing plant in South Africa, but economically it makes sense in the short term that we use existing facilities," he added.

Maqubela was speaking after briefing parliament on the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill.

State power utility Eskom is planning to spend R343 billion over the next five years to boost generation capacity.

The government has owned up to being behind the power crisis, after years of neglecting to invest in the sector.

Eskom operates Africa's only nuclear power station, Koeberg, which has also been in and out of action because of maintenance problems.

The Koeberg facility accounts for about 95 per cent of spent fuel inventory, which has about 1 000 tons of high-level radioactive waste.

France, Britain and Japan were suitable as prospective partners on the reprocessing project, particularly with firms such as Areva and Westinghouse Electric.

On the potential value of the contracts, Maqubela said: "The contracting would be done by Eskom, not by government, so I would be hesitant to give a figure.

Quite clearly something like this would be in the millions of dollars."

Radioactive waste would probably be shipped overseas, where the spent fuel was reprocessed to produce a "mixed oxide fuel" - a mixture between uranium oxide and plutonium oxide - for re-use in nuclear reactors, said Maqubela.

South Africa has categorised uranium as a critical mineral.

It has approved a nuclear policy that, among other things, covers the mining of uranium to ensure a security of supply.

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