Blaauwberg Petition opposes development without Nuclear Evacuation plan
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A civic petition circulating in Cape Town’s Blaauwberg area is drawing attention to unresolved questions about emergency planning within the Koeberg Urgent Protective Action Zone (UPZ). The petition does not challenge the operation of the nuclear power station itself, but rather the way long-term spatial planning is proceeding without publicly demonstrated evacuation feasibility as population density increases.
Under law, municipalities are required to integrate disaster-risk and emergency-response considerations into spatial planning frameworks, which set land-use and density patterns decades in advance. Yet the City of Cape Town has confirmed that evacuation modelling is not used at this strategic planning stage. Instead, it is only undertaken once individual development applications are submitted, meaning population growth can be enabled in policy before evacuation capability is ever tested.
As a result, key safety information remains unclear. It is not publicly known which Evacuation Time Estimate currently supports Koeberg’s long-term operating licence, what population figures it assumes, or whether evacuation capability has been assessed against projected growth over the remaining life of the plant. Requests for this information have been referred between the City, Eskom, and the National Nuclear Regulator, without definitive answers.
The petition exists to address this gap. Its organisers argue that safety constraints should guide planning decisions, not be considered after density assumptions are already embedded in policy. Without transparent, up-to-date evacuation modelling that accounts for future population growth, they contend, public participation in planning processes is undermined and long-term uncertainty within the UPZ will persist. Rapid densification and population growth in this vulnerable area will continue unchecked. Something else to consider is the replacing of the environment with high-density apartments. Click HERE to sign the petition.
Independent news and opinion articles with a focus on the Western Cape, written for a more conservative audience – the silent majority with good old common sense.
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