Johannesburg - Jaco Kriek, CEO of Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) Ltd, said the firm could take control of South Africa's nuclear supply plans.
"Certainly, as a company we are confident we have what it takes," said Kriek in an interview on the sidelines of a PBMR conference on Thursday.
This follows Eskom's shock announcement in December that it lacked the financial fire-power to build nuclear energy in South Africa, estimated to have cost the country R27bn.
Eskom said it had hoped its nuclear power plant would contribute up to 20 000MW to the country's power grid by 2025, and that its proposed Nuclear 1 project would have resulted in the construction of the country's second pressurised water reactor nuclear power plant.
The Koeberg Power Station in the Western Cape remains South Africa's first and only nuclear power station.
Kriek said PBMR could play a role as a nuclear engineering company and be a design authority to grant nuclear licences for PBMR modules and other forms of alternative power. "I think this has to be discussed at a national level," he said.
Kriek's comments follow a speech by Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan, who said PBMR could "be instrumental in creating a strong nuclear industry locally". She suggested that the firm could play a role in developing Eskom's new nuclear reactors.
"It still has to be sorted out exactly what roles and responsibilities there are, how we fit into the nuclear technology structure and how it relates to Eskom. We're not there yet," said Kriek.
White elephant
PBMR is owned jointly by government's Eskom and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), as well as US-based Westinghouse Electric.
The market perception, however, is that the PBMR project has been expensive and slow to develop, and that it cannot meet the country's own nuclear needs because its modules are too small. In fact, it is suited as a coastal power solution but not a national one.
Kriek, however, said the time spent on developing the PBMR project - 10 years and counting - was prudent, given its strategic importance.
"Once we kick-start it, we can't just stop and start it up again. If we're not ready to host it [nuclear power], it can be a very expensive process which is why I think nuclear takes much longer," he said.
Kriek said that for the moment PBMR was focusing on the capability of nuclear before it fell behind the curve and lost skills to international competitors.
Skills training should happen now so they could be retained in South Africa. This would allow the country to go nuclear as soon as government gives the go-ahead.
"We need this capability in the country if we want to build a nuclear programme, so we don't have to build it up when we decide to construct the plant because we'll have a large part of it already.
"I think we, as a company, need to be relevant for the nuclear industry and not just a piece of technology. That's why we have to position ourselves now so that this capability is valued, which will hopefully give us existence," said Kriek.
- Fin24.com