The government does not know how much its ambitious nuclear power building programme will cost. The Department of Energy yesterday said the finance models, the in-depth technical studies of the cost of nuclear power and the economic impact of the procurement of as many as eight reactors, intended to generate 9600MW by 2030, were off-limits.The department's deputy director-general, Zizamele Mbambo, said: "The government is still to negotiate the price tag in the procurement process, which is why the exact figures cannot be made available at this stage."When asked where the government would get the money to fund the programme - which, it has been estimated will cost up to R1-trillion - Mbambo said he could not say for "strategic reasons"."[ The] government has completed the finance and funding model ... and what we have found is that these technical studies and models have strengthened the government's case to proceed with the programme."At this stage, though, the funding model cannot be discussed because of strategic reasons. It is strategic because we have not yet tested the market."Mbambo refused to discuss the contract strategy because it would be "premature to discuss it in public when the procurement process has not started"."When you prematurely announce these types of things you limit the government's leverage in negotiations."In September reports surfaced that President Jacob Zuma had taken control of the nuclear deal that had been negotiated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and had ordered Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson to sign it.The government denied these reports but the Russian atomic energy company Rosatom last week said it believed it was likely that its bid would be accepted.Mbambo said that the government was open to the possibility of more than one strategic partner.China, Russia, South Korea and France have begun training South Africans in nuclear engineering.The CEO of the Nuclear Energy Corporation of SA, Phumzile Tshelane, said the sites at which the nuclear power stations would be built had not been finalised, but they would be in Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal...