The 100 km untarred road to the facility southeast of Namaqualand’s main town receives radioactive waste from the Koeberg and Pelindaba nuclear reactors.

“While farmers with 4x4s fear travelling on the treacherous gravel road that goes from Springbok to the Vaalputs Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility during daylight, lorries filled with nuclear waste are tackling this unsafe road in the dark,” said Rodney Kritzinger, Speaker of the Nama-Khoi Municipality.

The road is in urgent need of repairs.

In 2016, more than 200 people from the Namaqualand communities of Rooifontein and Kamassies petitioned the Portfolio Committee on Transportation to pave the road between Springbok and Vaalputs with asphalt because it was dangerous and may result in terrible accidents and loss of life.

The only part of the road that was tarred was right outside of Springbok.

The committee on transportation stated that the Northern Cape Department of Roads and Public Works was in charge of maintaining the route at that time.

Kritzinger says the DA had petitioned the department because the route broke international rules for the transfer of nuclear waste.

“The National Department of Transport did not refute this and supported the demands of the community for the road to be upgraded. They also committed to assisting the Province to get outside funding the upgrade of this road,” he said.

The road is currently in a worse condition than before and to add the constant threat of a nuclear spill looms.

The committee also demanded that the road's likelihood of transporting nuclear waste be evaluated in terms of upkeep and environmental security.

With an average of 67 cars on the R355 at the time, the provincial Department of Roads and Public Works informed the committee that the route did not meet the requirements for road surface due to its exceptionally low traffic volumes.

“The issue at hand, however, is not road traffic volumes but rather the safe passage of nuclear waste, to prevent it from being spilled due to poor road conditions, which could have adverse consequences for the environment and members of the community,” says Kritzinger.

A few days after Kritzinger sent out a press statement an accident occurred on the same road.

OFM News/Zenande Mpame