of Public Enterprises, Mr Alec Erwin
2 October 2006
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:
*·reform methane to produce syngas (used as feedstock in the production of
hydrogen, ammonia, methanol)
* generate steam for in-situ oil sands recovery
* produce hydrogen through water splitting
* supply hydrogen and oxygen to a coal-to-liquids process to produce clean
liquid fuels
* for desalination purposes.
Conclusion: An energy source for the future
The saliency of energy for all economies is at the forefront of most
strategic thinking in the global economy today. South Africa is not exempt from
these complex and critical choices. We have made our choice in pursuing the
development of the PBMR and planning for more conventional generation plants.
There will be debate around this issue but as a country with an acute need to
improve the lives of millions of our people we have to take a hard-nosed
pragmatic approach to the issues of energy.
We will continue along with others to explore all renewable and sustainable
primary energy sources regardless of their apparent limitations in the present
be it solar, wind, water, natural gas or any other. However, we tend to align
with James Lovelock independent scientist and creator of the Gaia hypothesis
when he says "nuclear power is the only green solution. We have no time to
experiment with visionary energy sources, civilisation is in imminent
danger."
As I have already stressed we are acutely conscious of our environment as it
is our greatest asset. We will chart our way through these elemental choices in
as optimal a manner as possible.
In an era where global warming poses a significant threat, this conference
is fundamental to the growth of a very exciting and necessary industry. I wish
you well in your deliberations.
Issued by: Department of Public Enterprises
2 October 2006
Source: Department of Public Enterprises (http://www.dpe.gov.za/)
