Pebble-bed nuclear reactor gets pulled

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http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100223/full/4631008b.html


Published online 23 February 2010 | Nature 463, 1008-1009 (2010) | doi:10.1038/4631008b
News
Pebble-bed nuclear reactor gets pulled
South Africa cuts funding for energy technology project.
Linda Nordling
Bedtime for pebbles?Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (Pty)
Hopes for the development of pebble-bed nuclear reactor technology, long held up as a safer alternative to conventional nuclear power, have suffered a blow. Last week, the South African government confirmed that it will effectively stop funding a long-term project to develop the technology.
The development company, Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), based near Pretoria, says that it is now considering axing three-quarters of its 800 staff, about half of whom are scientists or engineers. "The resources available to the company will not sustain the current cost structure," the company says. The cuts could trigger an exodus of nuclear expertise from South Africa, although some argue that government funding has kept the project going for too long in the face of growing problems.
South Africa started to develop its pebble-bed reactor design in the mid-1990s, hoping that it would deliver cheap electricity and open up a lucrative export industry. It licensed the technology from Germany's Jülich Research Centre, which abandoned a working prototype reactor in 1991 after citing poor business opportunities.
Eskom, South Africa's main electricity generator, based in Johannesburg, set up the PBMR in 1999 to develop the technology into a economically viable reactor. "It caught the mood in South Africa, and the feeling among South Africans was that their technology was as good as anybody's," says Steve Thomas, an energy-policy researcher at the University of Greenwich, London. "This was their chance to show the world what they could do."
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And the world has seen 

What another waste of taxpayers money
 
Make all the decision makers wanting more Nuclear Power in SA stay in suburbs right next to the nuclear plants.
They should then also be held responsible to store depleted radioactive waste in their own back yards.
The toxic water coming from mining the uranium should be used to fill their swimming pools.
They should also be thanked for further trying to monopolizing the South African power supply and taking away much needed work opportunities that other forms of power production methods(eg. CSP , tidal, wind, geothermal ect.) offer.
This being done at a hell of a expense to the taxpayers.
Cheers
 
TooHotTooHandle said:
Make all the decision makers wanting more Nuclear Power in SA stay in suburbs right next to the nuclear plants.
They should then also be held responsible to store depleted radioactive waste in their own back yards.
The toxic water coming from mining the uranium should be used to fill their swimming pools.
They should also be thanked for further trying to monopolizing the South African power supply and taking away much needed work opportunities that other forms of power production methods(eg. CSP , tidal, wind, geothermal ect.) offer.
This being done at a hell of a expense to the taxpayers.
Cheers
Click to expand...

The crap you are talking tends to wear thin for people who can think for themselves.
 
Well seeing that researchers from outside South Africa thinks we have at most 40 years of mine-able coal reserves left, and the tards at Eskom saying 200 years.....killing this project makes me fear another "oohh shirt" moment coming up in the future. Losing the researchers is going to put us in a position we can ill afford, somebody needs to wake up and soon too.....Scary.
 
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The guavament pulled the money from the project. They rather invest in their own pockets than alternative power.
 
There is a lot more viable nuclear tech out there than the PBMR. The cash would be much better invested in "traditional" nuclear or, even better, renewables.
 
Finally! Bloody idiots wake up, why can't SA have to learn from the rest of the world failures?

HammerDown said:
Well seeing that researchers from outside South Africa thinks we have at most 40 years of mine-able coal reserves left, and the tards at Eskom saying 200 years...../QUOTE]
actually 140 years at current consumption
Click to expand...
 
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