PBMR PROJECT STATUS

Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (Pty) Ltd (PBMR) has become one of the largest nuclear reactor design teams in the world. In addition to the core team of some 700 people at the PBMR head office in Centurion near Pretoria, more than a thousand people at universities, private companies, and research institutes are involved in the project.

The PBMR team is currently preparing for the building of a commercial-scale power reactor project at Koeberg nuclear power station near Cape Town and a fuel plant at Pelindaba near Pretoria, where the PBMR fuel will be manufactured.

Assuming that the required regulatory approvals are obtained, the current schedule is to start construction in 2010 and for the first fuel to be loaded four years later.

The PBMR project enjoys solid support from the South African government, which regards it as one of the most important capital investment and development projects yet undertaken in the country. The Minister of Public Enterprises, Mr Alec Erwin, stated an intent to eventually produce 4 000MW to 5 000MW of power from pebble-bed reactors in South Africa. This equates to between 20 and 30 reactors of 165MW each.

PBMR’s mission is to be the first organisation that successfully commercialises pebble-bed technology for the world’s energy market. Being the first will be essential to achieve PBMR’s vision, which is to be the preferred global provider of standardised nuclear energy systems, fuel, and life-cycle support.

Good progress has been made in pursuit of this vision. A heat transfer test facility (HTTF) at the North-West University in Potchefstroom and a helium test facility (HTF) at Pelindaba were commissioned during 2007.

The HTTF will perform high-pressure and high-temperature tests. These empirical heat transfer tests will verify and validate thermo-hydraulic calculations and analyses that have been done to determine the heat generated in the core and the energy provided to the turbines for power generation. These thermo-hydraulic calculations have laid the platform for PBMR’s Brayton cycle design optimisation and component design specifications.

In 2007, a helium test facility (HTF) was commissioned at Pelindaba. This facility enables the first full-scale operating tests on the critical components of the reactivity control system, the reserve shutdown system, and the fuel handling system. All active components such as valves and measuring equipment are being tested in an actual high-temperature, high-pressure helium environment. These tests are providing crucial and early feedback regarding the performance of equipment designed and built for the high-temperature and high-pressure helium environment.

The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism upheld the positive record of decision on the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the pilot fuel plant at Pelindaba. The Minister also de-linked the EIA for the pilot fuel plant (PFP) from that of the demonstration power plant (DPP). This means that - from an environmental point of view – manufacturing of fuel can commence even though the regulatory approvals for the power plant at Koeberg are still outstanding.