South Africa: New reactor falls short of US standards

4 September, 2008 in South Africa

source: IOL
Melanie Gosling
September 04 2008 at 10:52AM

Eskom’s proposed R14,5-billion pebble bed nuclear reactor, touted as “meltdown proof”, cannot get certification in the United States in its current form because it does not meet safety requirements there.

The PBMR demonstration reactor planned for Koeberg does not have a safety barrier – called a “secondary containment” – which is built into the design of all modern nuclear reactors to contain radiation in the event of an accident.

This raises questions regarding both public safety and the economic viability of the PBMR export project.

Eskom plans to build 24 to 30 pebble beds for export, but specialists say it is highly improbable that any country would buy nuclear technology which the US has not certified.

A German nuclear scientist, who has recently reinvestigated safety problems of the nuclear plant that was the prototype of the South African pebble bed, said he considered it “irresponsible” to construct a nuclear plant without a secondary containment.

In simple terms, without this structure, there would be nothing to prevent a massive release of [continue reading]