South Africa’s pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR) programme appears to be at death’s door. Sources have told Engineering News Online that the PBMR Company is in grave danger of being reduced to a staff complement of just 25, which would put into a “care-and-maintenance” status.

Officially, the PBMR Company is still busy with the restructuring – and downsizing – process announced early this year, in terms of which the workforce of 800 was to be cut by 75%, to 200, and is still negotiating with the unions. The board and management are also awaiting directives from the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).

The publicly announced cuts were the result of the very severe budget cut inflicted on the predominantly State-owned PBMR Company in the national budget in February. But, it seems, that the funding available to the company would, even with only a 200-strong workforce, last just to the end of the year. The company would then completely cease to operate and have to dismiss all its staff.

Reducing the complement to just 25 would allow the company to continue to exist for another two or three years, albeit at a low level of activity. It seems that the PBMR board recently decided to do just this, to try and save something of the programme, but their plan was vetoed by the DPE.

However, the DPE has, so far, offered no practical alternative. It is hoped that it will soon come up with its own proposals – and the necessary funding – to ensure that the PBMR Company continues into 2011.

Staff morale is reported to be very bad, and it seems a number of highly-skilled people have already left and taken up nuclear posts overseas.

The PBMR is a Generation IV high-temperature gas-cooled reactor design, capable of both generating electricity and providing process heat for industrial uses. With the PBMR programme, South Africa was a world leader in Generation IV technologies.

The country was a founder member of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), which brings together countries from around the world that are developing, or interested in developing, Generation IV reactors. The other founder members were Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and the UK. (China is also developing PBMR technology, which was originally pioneered in Europe). Subsequently, Argentina, Brazil and the UK became “inactive members” of the Forum while Russia formally joined the GIF last year.

The cuts inflicted on the PBMR programme have come just as a much-heralded global nuclear renaissance is getting under way. Across the world, at the moment, there are 45 nuclear reactors under construction, plus 131 in the planning stage and another 282 being proposed for licensing. (Currently, worldwide, there are 436 nuclear power reactors in operation).