BusinessDay – an online publication from South Africa – published a story by Linda Ensor on 9 November 2005 titled Talks under way with potential investors for nuclear project. The article describes the ongoing efforts by PBMR Pty LTD to bring on additional investors in their Pebble Bed Modular Reactor project and its associated fuel manufacturing facilities.
According to the article, there are at least two large investors currently talking with the company, and an announcement should be made early in 2006 about any deals that may be struck.
Though this project has achieved a great deal of international recognition as a ground breaking concept, it has some hurdles to overcome that more “conventional” light water reactors do not face. One of the major ones is that a new fuel manufacturing plant must be constructed in order to supply the first few units. This adds a bit of risk to the project when compared to the evolutionary designs that can use fuel from existing, currently underutilized manufacturing facilities.
When viewed with a slightly longer time horizon, however, the PBMR project has some advantages that cannot be matched by light water technology.
Atomic Insights Blog will continue to follow this fascinating technology and continue to root for its successful introduction.
