Pebble bed reactor too expensive for electricity

[bananas]

so they're going to redesign it for melting oil from tar sands.

South Africa's Pebble bed project turns to process heat applications, hydrogen, focus after funding for electricity generation runs out

7:29 AM Feb 23rd from TwitterGadget
djysrv
Dan Yurman

Watchdog says redesign will not save the PBMR
Published: Wed 18 February 2009

South Africa's Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) has been called "waste of vital public funds" at time when the project is seeking a redesign in order to be more commercially viable.

Watchdog group Earthlife Africa has called for the shelving of the project and the diversion of funds into more economically viable technology such as the 100 MW concentrated solar plant in the Northern Cape, for which Eskom is seeking finance of R5 billion to build.

The group argues that it made better economic sense than the estimated R14 billion for 165MW for the PBMR, which didn't even include the cost of the security apparatus necessary for the PMBR.

In 1999, the PMBR construction costs were estimated at R2 billion, but by 2005 they had risen to R14 billion, excluding the costs of decommissioning.

<snip>

SA nuclear demo project will run out of cash
Published: Mon 23 February 2009

The South African government's allocation of funds for the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) project will run out by early 2010 unless it can adapt itself to be commercially viable.

Business Report says the project had spent R7.5 billion since its inception in 1999 and had R980 million left, according to PBMR spokesperson Tom Ferreira.

PBMR chief executive Jaco Kriek said talks were under way with suppliers to put certain contracts on hold to prevent unnecessary spending.

Public enterprises deputy director-general Chris Forlee told members of parliament in the standing committee on public enterprises that a new approach was being developed that would lead to standard nuclear processes being used, "reducing technology and licensing risk associated with a first-of-a-kind project".

PBMR is not viable with Eskom
February 18, 2009
By Michael Hamlyn

Parliamentarians were told on Wednesday that the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor project is not viable in the short to medium term with Eskom as the anchor customer for its demonstration power plant.

Chris Forlee, the deputy director general: energy and broadband at the Department of Public Enterprises, told the portfolio committee of Parliament that Eskom's massive conventional build programme has ruled it out of the game, because of the funding needs of the conventional programme which is putting its balance sheet under severe pressure.

<snip>

However the second leg of the project, which involves the production of process heat, could still be viable. Process heat has uses in steam generation for heavy oil recovery in oil sands, for methane reforming to produce hydrogen, ammonia and methanol, water splitting, coal to liquids and coal to methane, and desalination.

"The process heat market seems to have many more opportunities for PBMR than power generation," Forlee said.

<snip>

[Massacure]

1. Good. The PBMR design needs to be mothballed.

I hear that it is difficult to reprocess its spent fuel. Spent fuel reprocessing should be a critical component in the expansion of the nuclear industry.

[Name removed]

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