While certainly much of the news on new nuclear is focused on China or the US, South Africa has been steadily looking at this energy source as shown in the article below. Also note in this article that the bids are for light-water technology. Though both South Africa and China are researching the pebble bed design, light-water technology still is the main avenue for shrot-term nuclear energy growth.
http://corporate.hosted.inet.co.za/news/story/63071a81-32e4-4f67-97b4-e14c153f41bd
Eskom nuclear plans ‘on track’
By Edward West
Eskom’s nuclear programme is on schedule, and its board will decide in a few months which of two bidding consortium's will be selected to build a R120bn nuclear power station.
There is no decision yet on where the 3500MW plant will be located, and environmental impact assessments are under way at five sites.
Tony Stott, senior manager of Eskom’s nuclear stakeholder management division, said on Friday that a recommendation on the winning bid would be submitted to Eskom’s board in mid-2008, while licensing was scheduled to start next year with an application to the National Energy Regulator of SA.
Two sites being investigated are on the Northern Cape west coast, at Brazil near Kleinzee and Schulpfontein near Hondeklipbaai. There are two in Western Cape, Duynefontein at Koeberg and Bantamsklip east of Gansbaai; and one at Thyspunt, west of Cape St Francis on the Eastern Cape Coast.
France’s Areva and US-based Westinghouse Electric submitted bids to Eskom earlier this year, not only to build the first new power plant, but also to provide up to 20000MW of nuclear power by 2025.
Westinghouse is said to be bidding with Murray & Roberts and the US’s Shaw Group, while the Areva consortium includes local engineering and construction group Aveng, as well as French group Bouygues and electricity group EDF.
Eskom wants to double its generating capacity to 80000MW over the next two decades, with nuclear power making up about half that capacity. The power stations will be funded from Eskom’s earnings from revenue from the sale of electricity and loans raised on the capital markets.
Stott said the EPR technology from Areva was being used in nuclear plants being built in Finland and France, while Westinghouse’s API1000 technology would be used in nuclear power plants in China.
This week construction group Group Five warned that power station construction times may be delayed due to strong global demand for power generation equipment.
According to media reports, the construction of a nuclear plant at Finland’s Olkiluoto site, the first plant to use Areva’s EPR technology, had suffered large cost and construction time overruns and its commissioning has been delayed by two years until 2011.
Westinghouse and Areva are understood to be competing to build as many as 26 reactors by 2020 in China.
2008-04-13 14:41:47 Source: Business Day
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2 comments:
3500 MW is a big plant. Here I was writing off South Africa as a future basket case, and yet they have serious plans and great bold ambition.
-aa2
My guess is the article meant station instead of plant (i.e., more than one reactor to supply the 3500 MW). It could also refer to thermal MW (electric MW would be ~35% of thermal).
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