International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano addresses a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna September 15, 2014. The U.N. nuclear watchdog sought to put pressure on Iran on Mond
IN PHOTO: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano addresses a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna September 15, 2014. The U.N. nuclear watchdog sought to put pressure on Iran on Monday to address suspicions it may have carried out atomic bomb research, three weeks after Tehran failed to meet a deadline for providing information about the issue. In line with the findings of a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency earlier this month, Director General Yukiya Amano said Iran had not carried out two of the five transparency steps it had agreed to implement by Aug. 25. Reuters/Leonhard Foeger

South Africa has entered into a US$50 billion (A$54.1 billion) deal with Russia which will see the latter providing eight nuclear reactors by 2030 to Africa's second-biggest economy.

The eight nuclear units will have an equivalent installed capacity of about 9,600 megawatts, Russia's state-owned nuclear company Rosatom said in a statement. The agreement lays the foundation for the large-scale nuclear power plants procurement and development program using Russian VVER reactors, it added.

The two countries made the surprise announcement from the sidelines of an International Atomic Energy conference in Vienna. Sergey Kirienko, Rosatom director-general, said thousands of jobs will be created by the eight nuclear power units. Suppliers will likewise receive at least $10 billion in business.

In August, Moscow received as guest South African President Jacob Zuma. Although details were kept to a minimum regarding the purpose of his visit, various reports said one of his agenda was towards concretising talks of a possible nuclear agreement with Russia.

Mr Zuma had said in June his country's energy sector badly needs a "radical transformation" and that he would want nuclear energy to play a bigger part for their power supply requirements. Although South Africa has existing nuclear power plants, these only contribute 5 per cent to the total.

Much of South Africa's energy requirements come from coal. However, the construction of new coal-fired plants are far behind schedule.

"South Africa today, as never before, is interested in the massive development of nuclear power, which is an important driver for the national economy growth," Tina Joemat-Pettersson, South African energy minister, said in the statement. "I am sure that co-operation with Russia will allow us to implement our ambitious plans for the creation by 2030 of 9.6 [gigawatts] of new nuclear capacities based on modern and safe technologies."

Itar-Tass news agency, quoting an unidentified Russian nuclear energy official, said the cost of a single reactor could reach $5 billion, making the total cost of the deal reach between $40 billion to $50 billion.

South African media, meantime, estimated the deal could balloon to as much as $100 billion, which is already more than the country's entire annual tax revenue, according to the Globe and Mail.