South Africa ‘committed to new nuclear and PBMR’

Tuesday, 3 December 2024

Zizamele Mbambo was speaking at Stand Up4Nuclear South Africa, a joint event held by DMRE in collaboration with Kouga Local Municipality, South African Young Nuclear Professional Society and Women in Nuclear South Africa on 29 November. The event, billed by the Africa4Nuclear group as a chance for school learners and community members to learn about the role of nuclear energy in shaping South Africa’s sustainable future, took place in Jeffreys Bay, in Eastern Cape: the region has previously been earmarked for potential nuclear new-build at Thyspunt.

The South African government is in the process of updating its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP): the DMRE published the Draft IRP2023 in December last year for public comment, and has been working to address the “high interest” the draft has received. “This week as we gather here, the department has been meeting with interested parties to present the updated IRP2023 version,” Mbambo said. “In parallel the minister is in the process of establishing an Industry Expert Team to advise on the Nuclear New Build Programme following the withdrawal of Section 34 Determination,” he added, referring to the decision in August to withdraw a Ministerial Determination for the procurement of 2500 MWe of new nuclear capacity to allow for further public consultation.

Nuclear energy remains key to South Africa’s low carbon pathway by 2050, Mbambo said, and its role is made “more pertinent” given the planned decommissioning of a significant amount of coal-fired baseload capacity post-2030. “Nuclear power will complement the massive rollout of intermittent renewables to ensure a reliable low carbon electricity supply as well as ensure the grid stability,” he said.

“As a government we maintain that all low-carbon energy sources will be key to realise a just energy transition, this includes nuclear energy,” he said.

“There is a global growth in the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Our most ambitious project yet is to promote the use of nuclear power as a critical tool in mitigating climate change through new nuclear builds and Small Modular Reactors in the country. South Africa is currently looking to revitalise our nuclear programme to provide energy security and grid stability through clean, dependable energy. The world once acknowledged our Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Programme (PBMR) as a global first, and we aim to restore our position as a leader in nuclear energy research by bringing to market a working prototype SMR, with supporting fuel production, that can be successfully commercialised. The Department will soon recommend that Cabinet approve the lifting the state of Care and Maintenance on the PBMR to revive this programme in South Africa to create jobs and contribute to the economy,” he said.

The PBMR was to have been a small-scale high-temperature reactor using graphite-coated spherical uranium oxycarbide tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel, with helium as the coolant, able to supply process heat as well as generating electricity. Based on well-proved German technology, South Africa had been working on the PBMR project since 1993, and PBMR Ltd was established in 1999 with the intention of developing and marketing the reactor. However, in 2010 the government formally announced its decision no longer to invest in the project, which was then placed under care and maintenance. PBMR Ltd was reincorporated into South African utility Eskom, its sole shareholder, in 2012. In 2020, the company said it was seeking to take PBMR out of care and maintenance and commercialise the business, and issued a request for expressions of interest from would-be investors. South Africa’s Stratek Global is also high temperature modular reactor which is derived from the PBMR programme.

“Electricity is a basic need. Electricity is one of the core elements of a decent standard of living. To this, the National Development Plan 2030 envisioned a future where all South Africans will have access to clean and reliable supply of electricity,” Mbambo said, referring to the country’s long-term plan to reduce inequality and unemployment, and to eliminate poverty for all South Africans.

“I am here reminding all of us of government policy imperatives that as the Ministry and custodian of Nuclear Industry, our endeavours are not taken in isolation, that its integrated effort to realise the ideals of NDP and the role of nuclear in realising those ambitions.”