Indonesia has expressed interest in South Africa’s pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR) technology, the demonstration of which was abandoned in 2010, after R9.244-billion had been spent over a decade, about 80% of which was taxpayers’ money.

When the project was launched, the aim was to build a demonstration small-scale high-temperature nuclear power plant at Koeberg, near Cape Town. This was to be a precursor to between 20 and 30 similar units, each with a capacity of 165 MW, which were to be factored into South Africa’s future energy planning.

Former Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan told the National Assembly in September 2010 that government had decided to no longer invest in the PBMR project partly because it had failed to secure another investment partner – besides the Industrial Development Corporation, electricity utility Eskom and the US’s Westinghouse Electric Corporation – and further investment in the project could well exceed R30-billion. It had also become apparent that the potential customer market PBMR units was limited.

The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, better known as Necsa, supplied the project with nuclear fuel and provided technical support.

Speaking to Engineering News on the sidelines of Atomexpo 2014, held in Moscow last month, Indonesian National Nuclear Energy Agency (NNEA) chairperson Professor Djarot Sulistio Wisnubroto said PBMRs would be ideal for electricity generation in the South-East Asian country, an archipelago of hundreds of islands. This was because Indonesia was looking for a power source that could be distributed only on the island where the power was generated.

Other pluses for PBMR technology were that it was safe and could be used for other applications, including hydrogen generation and the desalination of seawater, he added.

Experts say the safety features of the PBMR are inherent in the physics of the design, as opposed to the add-on engineered safety features on current light water reactor nuclear plants.

“The cost of the technology is not too expensive, compared with other options,” said Wisnubroto.

He added that NNEA representatives had held a meeting with the South African ambassador to the South-East Asian country in Jakarta, the capital city, “about three months ago”. The ambassador was requested to convey Indonesia’s interest in the PBMR technology to the relevant authorities in South Africa.

“We are now awaiting the South Africans’ response,” he said.

A South African nuclear-sector role-player has confirmed to Engineering News that he is aware of the interaction with the Indonesians.

He insists that the PBMR is “a good technology that will solve our critical need for energy”, adding: “Its safety exceeds all standards for nuclear energy as we know them today.”

He argues that the abandonment of the PBMR demonstration project was not caused by a failure of the technology, putting the termination down to investor fatigue.

“The purpose of the project was to demonstrate the technology. Demonstration was not happening and there was fatigue about the whole programme.”

He believes the project failed because there was a lot of cash “and we did not know how to use it”. According to him, the correct approach would have been to come up with a programme and then request funding.

“The PBMR is wonderful technology. If it was implemented here, it would put South Africa ahead in terms of electricity supply.”

Following the withdrawal of government funding and the subsequent abandonment of the demonstration project, the PBMR Company laid off most of its employees and only a rump has been retained to preserve and protect the company’s intellectual property and assets.

While the abandonment of the project resulted in a leakage of skills, some local universities benefited from the investment made and are now able to offer courses related to nuclear research and training.

• Zhuwakinyu attended Atomexpo 2014 as a guest of Rosatom.