Russian South African Nuclear Cooperation, Posmotrim Опции

[Nuclear]

http://www.gazeta.ru/news/lenta/2007/03/16/n_1046228.shtml?
DEPUTY PRESIDENT MLAMBO-NCGUKA TO HOST RUSSIAN COUNTERPART
Pretoria – South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will host her Russian counterpart Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov on an official visit to South Africa from Saturday – Monday, 17-19 March 2007. In this regard, Prime Minister Fradkov will visit Cape Town and Pretoria.
Posmotrim ,chto predlozhat posle vizita Kirienko i Trutneva i obechanii Putina

[Гость]

Bold state bid to put SA back on nuclear map
Hilary Joffe
Associate Editor

THE government yesterday launched its draft policy on nuclear energy,
which seeks to create a new industry around nuclear power generation
to take advantage of SA's rich uranium deposits, develop technology
and create tens of thousands of jobs.

The mineral and energy affairs department unveiled plans to promote
the recycling of spent nuclear fuel as well as to rebuild SA's uranium
enrichment capacity, which was originally developed for nuclear
weapons but was voluntarily dismantled before 1994. Now, enrichment
would be for peaceful purposes only, with the aim of producing nuclear
fuel for SA's own new nuclear reactors and for the international
market.

The plans are set out in a draft nuclear energy policy and strategy
that the department unveiled yesterday, after the cabinet approved it
for public comment last week.

The department hopes to finalise the policy before the end of this
year. It follows President Thabo Mbeki's commitment in his state of
the nation address in February to accelerate work that would pave the
way for SA to increase its reliance on nuclear and renewable energy.

The department's chief director for nuclear energy, Tseliso Maqubela,
said yesterday the nuclear policy aimed to ensure SA diversified its
energy sources away from coal, addressing security of supply and
global climate change concerns. "There is no way we can have a primary
energy source such as uranium which we don't use fully," he said.

Maqubela said it was envisaged that nuclear power would account for
more than 15% of SA's total power generation capacity by 2025- 30,
more than double the current 6%.

Eskom CE Jacob Maroga said last month the utility's aspiration was
that half of the 40000MW it planned to add to its generating capacity
over the next 20 years would come from nuclear, in line with its aim
of cutting its dependence on coal to less than 70% by 2025, from the
present 88%.

Eskom is due to detail plans for its new conventional nuclear power
stations in March . Maqubela said it was looking at 4000MW of nuclear
power in the first phase of the building programme and the figure
would be increased from there.

The government is also looking to the experimental pebble bed
technology to generate nuclear power in future years and has been
working to bring international partners into the Pebble Bed Modular
Reactor (PBMR) project. Department director-general Sandile Nogxina
said yesterday, however, the government would go ahead with the PBMR
even if it did not get international partners .

But it would look for foreign partners who could come in on building
the infrastructure for recycling spent fuel. SA does not have that
infrastructure . Nogxina said that in the long term, the government
wanted SA to be able to compete globally in the whole nuclear value
chain, including the recycling of uranium.

The draft policy document proposes to recapitalise the Nuclear Energy
Corporation of SA (Necsa, formerly the Atomic Energy Corporation) to
co-ordinate investment in nuclear research and development and
innovation. There will be a single national nuclear safety regulator,
in the National Nuclear Regulator. But the document also proposes the
creation of several new institutions, including a new national nuclear
security agency, a national radioactive waste management agency and a
national nuclear architectural capability. The policy makes Eskom the
only generator of nuclear power, though Maqubela said the door was not
closed for private sector participation, though this would have to be
in partnership with Eskom.

On the mining side, Maqubela said the government would look to provide
incentives to encourage the mining and beneficiation of uranium
locally.

Nogxina also said the cabinet's approval last week of the Energy
Master Plan did not imply that only Transnet could build a new fuel
pipeline from Durban to Gauteng. P rivate sector consortium IPayipi
has also applied to the National Energy Regulator to build the
pipeline. Transnet's application still had to go through the
regulatory process. The cabinet's endorsement in no way excluded
participation of the private sector, he said.
Business Directory

[Nuclear]

Talks between Eskom and nuclear vendors now officially under way
By: Terence Creamer
Published: 20 Nov 07 - 16:21
State power utility Eskom has now officially started commercial
negotiations with selected vendors for its proposed nuclear programme,
which could involve the building of up to 20 000 MW of atomic-energy
capacity by 2025.

Eskom Enterprises MD Brian Dames has told Engineering News that the
utility will seek to conclude commercial negotiations with either
Areva, of France, or Toshiba's Westinghouse, of the US (both short-
listed a few months back) before making a final investment decisions
in early 2008.

Entering commercial talks ahead of board sanction is a new approach
for Eskom, which has hitherto only proceeded with such discussions on
garnering final approvals. But Dames, who has overall responsibility
for the R200-billion-plus build programme currently under way, says
the model has been adopted in a bid to gain clarity on pricing.

The roll-out could result in nuclear comprising up to a half of the 40
000 MW of new generation capacity to be added by Eskom by 2025. Should
such a scenario evolve, coal's footprint would fall to 70% of the
overall energy mix, while nuclear's contribution could rise to 15% by
that date. At present, coal makes up nearly 90% of the mix and nuclear
5%.

The pressure-water reactor (PWR) offerings of either Areva and
Westinghouse would dominate any new investment plan, but the next-
generation pebble-bed modular reactor, in which Westinghouse also has
a stake, could be incorporated later, once the technology is fully
proved.

"Eskom's future nuclear plants will be based on the Koeberg design.
They will be pressurised water reactors. We have started the approval
process and the commercial process is under way with vendors," Dames
tells Engineering News.

The PWR technology is preferred, given the fact that it is not only
proved, but that China, Finland and France are currently deploying it,
while the US has also signed agreements to restart a nuclear-energy
construction programme.

Five sites are being considered, including Oyster Bay, Peraly Beach,
Bantamsklip, the current Koeberg site, and Kleinzee, and environmental-
approval processes are under way.

There is likely to be stiff opposition from some antinuclear and
environmental groups, which believe the technology to be fundamentally
flawed and dangerous. Others have argued that Eskom has simply not
given the same level of attention to other carbon-free alternatives,
such as large-scale wind and solar power before embarking on an atomic-
energy course.

However, Eskom argues that, while nuclear is expensive to build, it is
vastly cheaper to operate, and, at this stage, provides the only true
low-carbon alternative to coal.