South Africa signed a nuclear power deal with France, the South African government announced Friday, as Pretoria aimed to expand its nuclear power to 9,600 MW.

President Jacob Zuma authorized "an agreement on cooperation in the development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy" with the French Republic, a statement from his office said.

The deal comes only three weeks after Africa's second-largest economy reached a similar agreement with Russia, which will provide the country with eight nuclear reactors by 2023 in a $50 million (39.5-million-euro) contract.

But Russia has estimated the contract value to be more around tens of billions, as one reactor costs around $5 billion.

No further details on the deal with France were provided, and the circumstances surrounding the signing remain murky, according to local media reports.

The country was still looking at different options to facilitate nuclear power in the country, the energy department told local reporters.

Energy officials also said other intergovernmental agreements were likely to follow, including deals with China, South Korea, the United States and Japan.

Question of time and money

Despite being interested in expansion, Pretoria had held off on any new nuclear initiatives in the past due to financial constraints.

Africa's most advanced economy plans to build additional nuclear plants by 2030 to generate 9,600 MW of power. But some economists have raised concerns about the costs, estimated at between 400 billion and 1 trillion rand ($36-$89.8 billion, 28.4-71 billion euros), which may prove to be unsustainable.

Critics have also argued the decade-long construction time of these nuclear plants is too long to solve the country's immediate electric supply crisis.

South Africa has one nuclear power station providing approximately 5 percent of its 42,000 MW of installed generating capacity. Energy from coal provides nearly the rest.

el/hg (Reuters, AFP)