ISS Event: Pretoria: Nuclear Energy Rethink? The rise and demise of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor

Date: 2010-05-13

Venue: Elijah Barayi Memorial Training Centre, Yeoville, Johannesburg 49 Old Harrow Road, 2143 Corner Alexandra and Saunders Street

RSVP: Natashia Emmett

Hosted by the ISS Corruption & Governance Programme: Climate Change Project

A surprise announcement was delivered to the pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) nuclear energy project in South Africa’s 2010 budget - it would no longer obtain significant state funds. As a result the project has had to dismiss 75% of its staff, and operates on a skeleton basis at present. It had spent in the region of nine billion Rands of state funds, without having realised any of its plans. Furthermore, the project has been unable, over its lifespan, to attract significant outside investment or potential clients. Given the central importance of energy policy in South Africa in addressing climate change and development concerns, it is more important than ever that projects like the PBMR are evaluated. Policy discussions currently underway to draft the Integrated Resource Plan 2 are to set the agenda for electricity over the next 25 years. This draws further attention to the use of technologies such as nuclear energy given the emphasis on its low carbon claims and ability to ensure security of supply. And while the government appears to have dropped the PBMR for the present, recent media rhetoric suggests that it is still committed to adding on substantial amounts of nuclear power to its future energy mix. This effort seems to being made without first addressing the problems relating to democratic governance, public policy making and promoting the special interests of small lobby groups. The author of this Institute for Security Studies’ Corruption & Governance Programme publication, Dr. David Fig, raises such issues within an appraisal of the country’s checkered nuclear history and its development aspirations.

Join us for an open, critical engagement exploring the lessons to be learnt in failed governance in South Africa’s PBMR project.

Speakers

• Dr. David Fig, Independent Environment Policy Researcher & Earthlife Africa trustee
• Peter Bester, Programme Manager: PBMR and Joseph Mwase, Stakeholder & Strategy Relations Executive, National Nuclear Regulator
• Trusha Reddy, Senior Researcher, Institute for Security Studies Corruption & Governance Programme, ISS Cape Town
  

Attendance to this seminar is free. Feel free to distribute among your network.

Click here to download a map to the venue

Please note that discussions occur under ISS Rules. Participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.