safe, secure and clean energy
The first phase of the PBMR project entails the design and construction of a 165 MWe demonstration module at Koeberg near Cape Town where Africa’s only nuclear power station is situated (photo) and a pilot fuel plant at Pelindaba in the North West province.
THE GLOBAL ENERGY CHALLENGE
Global electricity demand is set to double from current levels by 2040, with nuclear power likely to constitute at least 15% of the total generation capacity by that date. To satisfy this increase in demand and to replace existing nuclear power plants at the end of their current lifetimes, will require over 900 GWe of new nuclear capacity between now and 2040.
World energy requirements are escalating at an unprecedented rate. It has taken 2 000 years for the population of the world to grow from 250 million to six billion people. By the middle of this century, it will reach 10 billion. This rapid increase in world population, with a simultaneous increase in standard of living, especially in the developing world, will cause world energy requirements to triple over the next half century.
At this exponential increase in the rate of energy consumption – in a world that is relying on fossil fuels for 80% of its energy requirements – it is questionable whether economic oil and gas supplies will last beyond the latter part of this century. Price increases, security of supply concerns and related commercial risks will be the fruits of the burgeoning global population and create unforeseen challenges. Climate change and tertiary effects of greenhouse gases will challenge human ingenuity.
The nuclear debate is over. There is a rapidly increasing trend in the acceptability of nuclear energy in the world, and a realisation that nuclear is an inevitable but more importantly, safe, clean, sustainable and secure part of a future energy mix. We have no choice – we have to bring our greenhouse gas emissions down, and the only way to achieve this is to ensure nuclear power plants play their rightful role. No alternative sustainable energy solution to date has the potential to meet this challenge.
Photo: Yonngwang Nuclear Power Station in Jeonnam, South Korea
Climate change has stimulated a renaissance in nuclear energy as a source of secure, clean and safe energy for the future. The World Nuclear Association lists 435 nuclear power plants in operation worldwide. About 30 more are under construction, over 60 power reactors with a total net capacity of nearly 70,000 MWe are planned and over 150 more are proposed.
NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has significantly increased its projection of world nuclear generating capacity. The IAEA anticipates at least 60 new plants in the next 15 years, which amounts to 430 GWe by 2020. This represents 130 GWe more than projected in 2000, and a 16% increase over the capacity actually operating in 2006. The increase is based on specific plans and actions in countries such as China, India, Russia, Finland and France, coupled with the changed outlook due to the Kyoto Protocol.
Conventional nuclear plants compete with fossil fuel plants in the generation of electricity, and then only when these nuclear plants are really large (typically in excess of 1 GW). In the smaller electricity generation and process heat market, there is currently no conventional nuclear competitor – forcing a reliance on ever-diminishing fossil fuels. In addition to these limitations, there are legitimate public demands on nuclear safety, non-proliferation and nuclear waste management.
In addressing these challenges, the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) was created to lead the collaborative efforts of leading nuclear technology nations in developing next generation nuclear energy systems. Current GIF members are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, European Atomic Energy Commission, France, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, China, Russia and the United States. The key technical goals of the GIF programme are to minimise nuclear waste, increase non-proliferation assurance, ensure high safety and reliability, achieve a very low likelihood and degree of reactor core damage, eliminate the need for short-term, off-site emergency response, and reduce financial risk.
WHY PBMR?
Altogether six nuclear concepts were announced by the Generation IV International Forum that represented their best judgement as to which reactor types held the greatest promise for the future. Piloted in Germany, and further improved by PBMR in South Africa, the latest design of the pebble bed-type high-temperature, helium-cooled reactor is the only Generation IV technology that has reached the potential to be exploited commercially in the near term.
“ Since establishment of the PBMR company in 1999, a total of R4 billion has been invested through PBMR towards the development of this technology.”
Various patent families are being developed in key jurisdictions, putting PBMR at the forefront of the worldwide development of Generation IV reactors. This early start, the calibre of the highly skilled PBMR team with experienced international contributors, and investment in the appropriate technology, differentiates PBMR from its competitors. PBMR is set to become the global market leader in Generation IV reactors.
At an international high temperature reactor conference held in October 2006 in Sandton, South Africa, Dr Regis Matzie, senior vice-president and chief technology officer of Westinghouse Electric Company (Westinghouse), remarked:
"The South African PBMR technology will become the world’s first successful commercial Generation IV reactor. It offers an enormous potential to expand the use of nuclear energy both in the electrical generation sector and the process heat sector. Its modular size and flexibility of applications provide a unique opportunity to address markets that nuclear energy has generally not pursued in the past.”
For the first time in nuclear history, the pebble bed technology offers a nuclear reactor system that has the potential to revolutionise the energy industry. The following attributes differentiate the PBMR demonstrator design from other conventional nuclear power plants:
- a relatively small power output of 165 MWe – offering a nuclear alternative to smaller fossil fuel generation options suitable to smaller electrical grids (small reactors have the advantage of balancing the grid and offsetting the effects of unplanned outages of large conventional nuclear power plants);
- a modular and standardised design – offering lower maintenance cost as well as a phased capacity growth option as more units can be added to a single site;
- a high thermodynamic efficiency;
- a passive and inherently safe design – requiring a small footprint and a small emergency planning zone, which means smaller sites can be utilised;
- a 24-month on-site construction time – meeting utilities’ shorter term expansion needs;
- operating at a high temperature of 900°C – providing the versatility to generate process heat for a variety of industrial chemical processes, including coal liquefaction and the production of hydrogen in the longer term; and
- simplicity of operation and a load following capability to operate at base load or a mid merit configuration at power levels ranging from 20% to 100% of full power with limited operational restrictions.
With these attributes, the PBMR demonstration plant will be the first nuclear technology that can be deployed across a comprehensive spectrum of the energy market. It will be able to compete with increasingly expensive fossil fuels such as natural gas in electrical generation and process heat markets, offering a safe, clean, affordable and secure source of energy at a significantly reduced risk of long-term cost volatility.
PBMR has a second design for steam process heat applications (500 MW) operating at 720°C as the basis for nuclear heat market penetration to displace carbon-burning, high-emission heat sources.
