## 1 Introduction  
South Africa is ranked as the fifth most populous country in Africa, and the recent projection in 2019 estimates the population at 58.5 million [1]. The catalyst for the economic development and growth of any economy is energy. It is an indisputable fact that one of the key constituents to the development of South Africa is its energy potentials [2]. However, in generating energy, the country relies heavily on its large coal deposit, which is a fossil fuel product [3]. The abundance of coal and the well-established infrastructure have allowed the country to generate electricity at a cheaper cost when compared to the infrastructural development of other energy sources [3]. Nevertheless, this has not translated to the total availability of energy to all its citizens. In 2018, it was estimated that more than 1.5 million households, representing about 5 million South Africans, are still without electricity [4]. It is expected that the electricity demand will increase from 245 TWh in 2015 to 522 TWh in 2050, representing an annual growth rate of 2.3% [5].  
The country is regarded as one of the fast-developing economies in the world [6]. Although the speed of electrification in the country has increased, the backlogs have been challenged by the aging coal-fired stations, resulting in belt and structural damages, which require increased maintenance downtime, and even environmental consequences of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts [3]. These effects have prompted the government to look inwards into other energy sources as an alternative to coal. One of the considered energy options is the exploitation of nuclear power, which is expected to help decarbonize the very intensive coal-powered source. In the world today, after hydropower, the second-largest source of low-carbon energy used in electricity production is nuclear power [7]. In the course of operation, near-zero greenhouse gases are emitted by nuclear power plants. According to the IEA [8], over the past 50 years, more than 60 gigatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced, which, globally, translates to almost two years' worth of energy-related emissions.  
Around the world, nuclear power accounts for 10% of the electricity production, representing one-third of low-carbon electricity. There are about 440 nuclear power reactors in 30 countries, including South Africa, that are in operation currently. In 19 countries, there are 54 reactors under construction, which includes four countries building their first reactors [7]. This article was, therefore, objectively driven by evaluating the desirability of increasing the nuclear power in the country, thereby enhancing the necessity to reduce greenhouse gases from fossil fuels' consumption, the need to upsurge the energy share in the country's energy mix, and the necessity to ameliorate sustainable development and growth through the provision of clean energy sources using a multicriteria analysis approach on the provision of nuclear energy in the country. Although studies such as [PERSON] et al.'s [9] and [PERSON] et al.'s [10] looked at the nuclear energy environment, such as Ghana's and Nigeria's, they did not combine it with any multicriteria analysis. This study moves a step beyond the mere identification of the various factors under the SWOT analysis by using the Analytical Hierarchy Process to assign weights to the various identified factors using input from experts in the sector. This approach gives more detail to the various identified factors and also presents the most pressing factors to be resolved during decision making.  
The study is organized as follows. The current energy status of South Africa is presented in Section 2. The country's roadmap for nuclear energy is presented in Section 3. Section 4 looks at the cost comparison of nuclear and other alternative sources of energy generation. The method used for the study is presented in Section 5. The results and discussion are presented in Section 6. The conclusion is presented in Section 7.