Eskom looking at nuclear power reactors

Arthur said:
The degree of close international oversight by various international atomic agencies will force Eskom to run nuclear power stations to international standards ... which is not something that'll happen with coal, gas, or any other viable baseload generation. SA's nuclear power stations will be crawling with international experts, inspectors, engineers, etc, strict controls on nuclear fuels, etc, etc, etc ... and that'll really limit the ANC's ability to screw up baseload.
Click to expand...
How many Nuclear power stations in Russia / China / Israel are -- scrupulously monitored by INTERNATIONAL bodies ?
How many of these International monitors will be monitoring nuclear power stations in SA built by the -- RUSSIANS / CHINESE ?
Will THEY allow it ?
Will the ANC / SACP allow it ?

I am think that you are being a bit -- too hopeful !
 
  • Like
Reactions: Swa
Swa said:
phys.org

Why nuclear power will never supply the world's energy needs

(PhysOrg.com) -- The 440 commercial nuclear reactors in use worldwide are currently helping to minimize our consumption of fossil fuels, but how much bigger can nuclear power get? In an analysis to be published in a future issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE, Derek Abbott, Professor of...
phys.org phys.org
Yeah no thanks. Also do you really trust the ANC with this?
Click to expand...
Hello hello hello
Article from 2011
Please can you follow up and see what the Prof has come up with as far as -- energy STORAGE is concerned..???
 
Jacob Zuma just came..

How about finishing your coal plants first Eskom?
 
Swa said:
Koeberg? lol. The same Koeberg that was shut down because of a bolt accident. You know it was actually French technicians that were here at the time of the incident so incompetence seems to run far and wide. Last year it was reported that there were leaks. They claim it to be negligible yet can't put a figure to it because admittedly it was "unmeasurable". In 2016 there was an unexplainable drone accident. Then there's the issue of our practically unguarded nuclear stash. Yeah right, "oversight".

Oversight can't stop incompetence, sabotage or acts of terrorism. Once it's done it's done. Besides you think it would solve corruption? It won't as we've already seen. Anything the ANC takes on will cost at least 4x the initial budget. We simply cannot afford it even on a small scale and small scale is all it would ever be in any case. You know what base load is right? Nuclear has been shown to be a poor option when it comes to above base load generation.

You can't shut down and restart reactors the same as other generators so need to underprovide and then use storage for peak demand. Countries that have gone full nuclear have only been able to do so at a cost-effective price because they can export the excess and import the shortfall. If everyone becomes nuclear it does not work. So who around us will support our endeavour when we are the only ones exporting?
Click to expand...
About the last bit with cost effective, everyone usually uses France as example.

Note how they did not add the cost of decommissioning to the price, now they have some of the most expensive prices to make up for it.
 
MidnightWizard said:
Hello hello hello
Article from 2011
Please can you follow up and see what the Prof has come up with as far as -- energy STORAGE is concerned..???
Click to expand...
Just CSP alone is matches or is cheaper than new nuclear. Note I use the word New as most older nuclear stations are already written off in terms of cost, having had large government subsidies.

Storage is also not as large an issue as everyone makes out to be, the point gets raised constantly. Spend a couple of minutes googling on why the question has already been generally answered, how wind picks up at night, smart grid, etc.
 
Why on earth did ESKOM ever turn its back on this? So much time wasted and too many people listening to the wrong advice.

The state has to write out ESKOM as the sole direct supplier of electricity in SA law. This will allow competitors to tap directly into the power grid and provide power to blocks (geographical areas) that would rather buy electricity from a IPP that has a small PBNR which can supply far more reliable electricity 100% of the time.

This is still the cheapest and cleanest way to generate power - and despite the anti-nuclear propagandists its very safe.

Small modular nuclear reactors, is really the solution for Africa's electricity challenges. But the government should not be allowed to dominate the supply. Because its clearly corrupt.
 
DeSLAM said:
Why on earth did ESKOM ever turn its back on this? So much time wasted and too many people listening to the wrong advice.

The state has to write out ESKOM as the sole direct supplier of electricity in SA law. This will allow competitors to tap directly into the power grid and provide power to blocks (geographical areas) that would rather buy electricity from a IPP that has a small PBNR which can supply far more reliable electricity 100% of the time.

This is still the cheapest and cleanest way to generate power - and despite the anti-nuclear propagandists its very safe.

Small modular nuclear reactors, is really the solution for Africa's electricity challenges. But the government should not be allowed to dominate the supply. Because its clearly corrupt.
Click to expand...
Look at the time and cost overruns at Medupi and Kusile. Now imagine that on a grander scale. This is why we can't have nice things.
 
If this is a variant of the PBMR type stuff that was being developed at Pelindaba then Eskom and the ANC should seriously go and fsck themselves.

We were the world leaders in this technology not too long ago, and it was almost a given that we would have the world market sewn up for them... but no they fscked that and they fscked it hard.
 
phaktza said:
Look at the time and cost overruns at Medupi and Kusile. Now imagine that on a grander scale. This is why we can't have nice things.
Click to expand...
Hit the nail on the head, Imagine all these smaller nuclear stations. Running into so many small startup problems like the China syndrome Hahaha
 
Torn on this topic tbh. Nuclear power is the cleanest option we have as a species but these deals come with huge kickbacks from the Russians. Not convinced that the upper echelons of the ANC have changed their stripes since Zuptagate.
 
The topic of energy generation is far too polarizing for any single body to solve the problem.

I am of the opinion that Green energy poses as big of a risk to this as nuclear.
 
Arthur said:
Great idea. I fully support them giving this a serious look. The future is nuclear, and the sooner we go there the better.
Click to expand...

To be honest I think the future is not nuclear, but a blend of many different types of power sources. Renewables, Nuclear being the 2 main ones.. Coal needs to sunset and sunset yesterday....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X