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Small nuclear plants could be answer to Africa’s energy challenges

Small nuclear plants could be answer to Africa’s energy challenges

Photo by Duane Daws

2nd September 2014

By: Leandi Kolver

Creamer Media Deputy Editor

  

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Small, 100 MW nuclear power plants could be the answer to Africa’s electricity generation challenges, Nuclear Africa CEO Dr Kelvin Kemm said on Tuesday, stating that he believed in 100 years’ time, the world would mostly be run on nuclear power.

“I believe African countries have to move into nuclear in a big way,” he told delegates at the 2014 World Energy Security Forum, in Sandton.

Kemm pointed out that State-owned power utility Eskom’s Koeberg nuclear power station, in the Western Cape, was currently the utility’s most profitable power station, which spoke to the affordability of nuclear power.

“My contention is that nuclear power plants are [also] easier to run than coal,” he said, adding that, while nuclear power was complicated and mysterious, it was not beyond the capabilities of most African countries.

He believed this was even more the case with the emergence of small modular nuclear reactors that did not need as much water for cooling and, therefore, did not have to be established close to the ocean as was the case with larger plants.

“We have to have the courage to [use] African solutions for Africa,” he commented.
He explained that 100 MW plants could be established in different parts of the continent to feed individual 5 km to 10 km radiuses with power.

These smaller plants could also, at a later stage, be connected to each other in a “spider web” grid centred around the plants.

Kemm noted that, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, 21 African countries had already formally indicated their intention to establish nuclear power plants, with ten countries having started work on this.

“This means that we need to get legislation on the books, we have to start getting a nuclear regulator in place, you have to start looking at site selection,” he pointed out.

Another reason why the continent should consider nuclear power was that nuclear fuel was small in volume.

Kemm noted that, according to his calculations, if the 2 000 MW Koeberg power station was run on coal, it would use six train loads of coal a day; however, it only used one truck load of nuclear fuel a year.

Nuclear fuel could be stockpiled much easier than coal.

Further, nuclear fuel was also resilient to commodity price changes, as the price of uranium only made up a fraction of the nuclear fuel price, with the rest of the price being made up of fabrication costs.

Meanwhile, while Kemm expected to see more nuclear power plants being built in future, this did not necessarily mean that coal would be replaced. However, coal would likely be used differently in future, he believed.

“We will likely see more coal converted to liquid fuels, [and this] will be done using nuclear power.

Further, Kemm urged Africa to work with the international community to develop an effective nuclear power industry.

He noted that the nuclear business was too big to achieve complete localisation and that trade between countries would be needed.

“But we need to look at this continent and how we can employ this to benefit the continent,” he said.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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