South Africa is preparing to restart work on its Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), with plans to end its care and maintenance phase by the first quarter of next year, or possibly sooner, Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said on Wednesday.
According to Reuters, the PBMR, once at the forefront of global small modular reactor (SMR) research, was put on hold in 2010 after the government spent more than 10 billion rand ($577 million) without completing a demonstration model.
“We are far advanced in (our) internal processes to make the case to lift the care and maintenance on the PBMR,” Ramokgopa told reporters.
Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned power utility, operates the continent’s only commercial nuclear plant near Cape Town.
Egypt is currently building its own, while Namibia, Niger, and Ghana are considering nuclear power options.
“We are seeing huge opportunities around the world, with major players on data centres the biggest investors on SMRs (small modular reactors),” the minister added.
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According to the upcoming 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), expected to be released this week, South Africa aims to add over 105 gigawatts of new power generation capacity by 2039.
Renewable energy sources are expected to provide more than half of this, as the country works to reduce its dependence on coal.
The IRP includes projections for 5.2 gigawatts of new nuclear power, 16 gigawatts from gas, 34 gigawatts from wind, and 25 gigawatts from solar photovoltaic energy.
The government’s plan also outlines ambitions to rebuild the country’s nuclear industry, with the IRP indicating that future industrialisation efforts will help determine the viability of developing up to 10 gigawatts of additional nuclear capacity.
Ramokgopa said possible partners for the PBMR revival include China, South Korea, the United States, and Russia.
“We don’t think we will run out of suitors who can partner with us on the PBMR,” he said.
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Image Credit: Qiraat Africa
