SA will get nuclear energy at a cost the country can afford. That was the message of Minister of Mineral Resources & Energy Gwede Mantashe during his department's budget vote debate in Parliament yesterday, says a Fin24 report. ‘To say nuclear energy is too expensive is misleading,’ he said. ‘The approach to SA’s energy sector should be one of balancing all the different sources together.’ He acknowledged that the Koeberg nuclear power station near Cape Town is ‘getting on in life’. Government, however, plans to extend the nuclear power station's life span.