During the recent IAEA Conference, Dr. Steven Chu has signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with South Africa. One mentioned area of immediate interest is the PBMR project, one that Atomic Insights has been covering for a number of years. You can read more about the agreement in the following articles:
- United States and South Africa Sign Agreement on Cooperation in Nuclear Energy Research and Development
- Energy Sec Chu saves PBMR Pebble Bed Project
- US to co-operate in PBMR development
Of interesting note, this new agreement will extend an already cooperative relationship. The US Department of Energy is already close to testing some of the TRISO coated fuel particles produced in South Africa. The particles are already in the US and have already been formed into compacts by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. They are scheduled to be put into a testing regime in the Advanced Test Reactor in early 2010.
Now it is time to dash off to my day job.
