South Africa’s PBMR Company on Thursday announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) of Japan concerning the exploration of cooperation regarding the construction of the first PBMR for a customer, whether in South Africa or abroad.

The signing of this MoU took place on Wednesday.

“We firmly believe that high temperature reactors will be one of the viable future reactors,” said MHI executive vice-president and GM for nuclear energy systems Akira Sawa. “We are, therefore, prepared to perform certain research and development work to assist in the success of this project.”

The MoU establishes the grounds on which the two companies will negotiate to identify projects on which cooperation is possible. When such a project is agreed, MHI will undertake some of the research and development (R&D) activities regarding the current PBMR design.

This vote of confidence by MHI represents a major morale boost for the South African company, which is developing the fourth-generation high-temperature gas-cooled pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR – so-called because of the spherical shape of its fuel elements) and whose future is currently cloudy – the future of the company and project is currently being reviewed by the government.

The Japanese group was responsible for the basic design and R&D of the two major components for the original PBMR design – a 400-MW (thermal) direct-cycle machine for the generation of electricity – namely, the core barrel assembly and the helium-driven turbo generator system.

Last year, the design was changed to a 200-MW(t) indirect-cycle machine that produces superheated steam that can be used to drive turbines to produce electricity and/or for process heat applications. (In the direct-cycle design, helium which passes through the reactor is used to drive turbines in a single-cycle system; in an indirect-cycle design, that helium instead goes through heat exchangers, turning water into superheated steam in a dual-cycle system).

“Both companies believe that high-temperature gas-cooled reactors using pebble fuel offer the best potential for sustainable, clean, reliable and safe sources of energy, globally,” affirmed PBMR CEO Jaco Kriek.

“The pebble-bed technology will bring a new option to the energy market which offers flexible, smart grid solutions for electricity, customer centric process heat and steam solutions for petrochemical industries, oil sands extraction and desalination. It will also pave the way to high-temperature hydrogen production.”