Cape Town — One of South Africa's most respected botanists has come out strongly against a proposed nuclear power plant near Cape St Francis, saying the environmental cost will be "unacceptably high".

Thyspunt, just west of Cape St Francis on the southern Cape coast, is one of a number of coastal sites around the country earmarked by Eskom for the expansion of South Africa's nuclear power industry.

Richard Cowling, formerly of UCT and now a professor at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, also chairs Foster, an acronym for the Friends of the St Francis Nature Areas group.

The group has been "very effective" over the past decade in consolidating, developing and managing a network of nature areas that link St Francis Bay and Cape St Francis.

Cowling recently resigned as specialist adviser to Arcus Gibb, one of the largest black-owned engineering consultancies in South Africa, saying he was now free to comment on the proposed nuclear power station at Thyspunt specifically and on South Africa's nuclear policies generally.

The proposal to locate a large nuclear facility at Thyspunt in the heart of the St Francis Conservancy would result in an unacceptably high environmental impact, Cowling said.

"The area that will be impacted comprises intact dune fynbos that is classified as an endangered ecosystem. Ecosystems thus classified are meant to be afforded protection in terms of the Biodiversity Act. Moreover, the Thyspunt area supports a magnificent series of interlinked wetlands which deserve international recognition.

"Our understanding is that the establishment of the facility at the designated site will require the removal of huge amounts of sediment, owing to the steep dune topography of the land immediately inland. Such earthworks will have a major impact on the ecology."

Foster did not support an energy policy for South Africa that depended in any way on nuclear power, Cowling said.

Also, it believed the social impact of the development of such a facility would exacerbate an already severe backlog of service delivery.

Foster had registered as an "interested and affected party" for the nuclear proposal, and would provide input to the environmental impact assessment process "where its views against this facility will be articulated".

"I am willing to assist, in my personal capacity and on behalf of Foster, any initiative aimed at preventing the establishment of a nuclear facility in our region," Cowling said in a letter to the local Cape St Francis newspaper.