Pebble-bed nuclear reactor gets pulled

[bananas]

This was another expensive nuclear boondoggle that received a lot of hype.
Remember this when you hear more hype about new reactor designs.
I've posted previously about the Jülich report mentioned below.
You can't blame this on "anti-nukes" or NIMBY's or "too much gubmint regulation".
The technology had problems that couldn't be overcome, no matter how much money you threw at it.

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

Published online 23 February 2010 | Nature 463, 1008-1009 (2010) | doi:10.1038/4631008b

Pebble-bed nuclear reactor gets pulled
South Africa cuts funding for energy technology project.

Linda Nordling
Bedtime for pebbles?

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.

<snip>

Runaway costs and technical problems helped to doom the project, says Thomas. "In 1998, they were saying that they would have the demo plant online in 2003" at a cost of 2 billion rands, he says. "The final estimate was that the demo plant would be online in 2018 and it would cost 30 billion rands." Furthermore, he adds, the PBMR has never been held to account for why costs rose every year, why the completion date was continually pushed back or the nature of its design problems.

<snip>

Although many scientists had hoped that the safety system of the pebble-bed design would win over opponents of nuclear power, a 2008 report from the Jülich Research Centre cast doubt on those claims, suggesting that core temperatures could rise even higher than the safe threshold.

<snip>

[dysfunctional press]

1. well...at least we've still got fusion reactor projects to throw money at...

and bringing it online is just around that next corner there.

or the one after that, maybe...:shrug:

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Interesting...

Do you have a link to the "Jülich report?"

[bananas]

3. Yes

Download from reference 1 in this article:

http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/the-demise-of-the-pebble-bed-modular-reactor

The demise of the pebble bed modular reactor
By Steve Thomas | 22 June 2009

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Duh

(Thanks)

[kristopher]

5. Apparently the project developer had a thing for the number 15

Completion date slipped 15 years and the price increased 15 fold.