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Polity
Published: 02 Oct 2006
Erwin: High Temperature Reactor Conference (02/10/2006)
Date: 02/10/2006
Source: Department of Public Enterprises
Title: Erwin: High Temperature Reactor Conference


Address to the High Temperature Reactor Conference by Minister of Public Enterprises, Mr Alec Erwin

Members of the European Commission,
Representatives from international energy and nuclear institutions,
Esteemed academics and researchers,
Ladies and gentlemen:

Welcome to South Africa at a very exciting time in the consolidation of our new democracy and the strengthening of an economy that can sustain a better life for all of our people. We are in a phase where the focus of our work is to both accelerate and share the benefits of economic growth, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA). In this process energy will, like most economies, be a central issue and indeed nuclear energy ever more critical to a sustainable future supply. South Africa is also in the interesting position that it is playing a leading role in the development of high temperature reactors in the form of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR). A key benefit of our new democracy has been our ability to continuously facilitate a more dynamic and efficient economy based on advanced manufacturing. The PBMR is a key part of this move toward new technology and advanced manufacturing.

Nuclear energy and the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor

More than a year has passed since the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor hosted the first Supplier's Conference that took place in Pretoria. This was followed by a successful presentation at a major conference in London earlier this year. Today we are even further down the road in the development of the first Pebble Bed reactor. We welcome this opportunity to share information on the project.

The South African government supports the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and sees it as an important component of our future energy mix. Earlier this year the PBMR was moved to the Department of Public Enterprises, the Ministry and Department responsible for key State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). In South Africa such enterprises are majority State owned and operate within national and global capital markets and within market related levels of efficiency and governance systems. So the move signified the intention to elevate PBMR from a development project toward a family of enterprises that can sustain a new primary source of energy and an industry in South Africa. This move will be done with major partners drawn from the global nuclear, engineering and heat process industries.

There is now little doubt as to the importance of nuclear technology as a primary energy source that does not have direct greenhouse gas effects. The importance of reducing the impact of greenhouses gases is also not in any doubt. South Africa is deeply committed to its environment as one of the most diverse biological land areas in the world we have a duty to the world to ensure that we protect that diversity. Indeed our ecosphere is one of, if not the greatest, endowments for our economy. We are very, very clear in our minds that the use of nuclear technology facilitates our environmental objectives and does not threaten them. Our environmental management law is good and our commitment to a nuclear regulatory regime to ensure safety and protection of our people is absolute.

The development of the PBMR in South Africa has to be seen in this context. As the South African economies grow and grow it must to ensure a better life for all our people it will need more energy and we will have to reduce our dependence on coal-fired stations. The rate at which we achieve this second objective depends on an affordable and environmentally alternative base load source of primary energy. We believe that nuclear energy is such a viable alternative as we move into the future. As a major producer of uranium, it also makes sense for South Africa to pursue the route of nuclear energy.

Whilst many doubted South Africa's commitment to the PBMR I believe that this commitment is now amply demonstrated and is in progress. South Africa is in a particularly strong position to advance the technology of high temperature reactors. We have a strong energy system and a strong energy supplier in the form of Eskom. This allows us to undertake long range planning.

We are currently planning around providing between 4 000 and 5 000 megawatts of power from The Pebble Bed reactors. This equates to between 20 to 30 Pebble Bed reactors of about 165 megawatts each. This initial order for the reactors allows us to construct a business case for the reactor industrialisation process. Our target is to have the first reactor linked to the grid around 2013/14.

The economics of the PBMR

The economic benefits of the Pebble Bed technology are potentially decisive for Africa's development and can play a crucial role in both advanced industrial countries and developing countries.

South Africa has a well-developed and sophisticated grid. Yet our base load power is unevenly distributed. The Pebble Bed will allow us to configure our grid even more effectively. However, in the rest of Africa the existence of grid systems is underdeveloped and the sources of primary energy are as geographically as concentrated as in our case. Building a large grid with dispersed base load power is a very costly exercise. Indeed it is an exercise that is still a major inhibitor to Africa's development. It is in this context that the more affordable PBMR will play an important role as an initiator of development and then a complement to larger national and eventually continental grids.

The fourth generation properties of the PBMR make it ideally suited to this more widespread use across developing countries. Its unique pebbles make it clean, inherently safe and because it is modular it is more responsive to changing demand. In effect the PBMR has a capacity to "nudge" into being new economic opportunities particularly in resource rich developing countries currently short of energy due to its modularity and ease of assembly in remote areas. For the same reasons in the developed economies the PBMR will be an ideal complement to existing systems.

We are also paying more attention to the High Temperature Reactor (HTR) properties of the PBMR. The economic significance of this attribute may well rival that of electricity generation in decades to come. We are working on refining the heat transmission technologies so as to facilitate a number of possible applications. Some of these are to:

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