Environmentalists questioned on Thursday a multimillion-rand contract to build South Africa’s first pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR) fuel plant at Pelindaba near Pretoria, saying the PBMR company has no legal basis to continue development.
”The court set aside the record of decision giving environmental approval to the project and we are still waiting for the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to reopen the process according to the court ruling,” said Earthlife Africa spokesperson Liz McDaid.
McDaid was responding to news that a $20-million (about R102-million) contract to design and construct the first fuel plant facilities and infrastructure for South Africa’s PBMR has been awarded to a German company.
In a statement on Thursday, the PBMR company said the contract was awarded to Uhde, a local division of Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Engineering.
”PBMR has two major thrusts, namely the demonstration plant at Koeberg near Cape Town and the pilot fuel plant at Pelindaba. This contract says we are getting closer to our vision of having a fuel-manufacturing plant to serve the demonstration power plant,” said Thabang Makubire, general manager of the fuel division at the PBMR company.
However, McDaid said a full bench of the Cape Town High Court earlier this year clearly found that the environmental impact process was flawed and had to be conducted in a proper, transparent manner where the public’s inputs were considered.
”Despite the law and court ruling, it looks as if they are immune to the normal legal process. We can’t understand how the company can go ahead with development when they have no legal basis to do so.”
McDaid also wanted to know where the money is coming from to pay for the contract.
The utilities to serve the plant at Pelindaba will be designed and installed as part of the contract, which is scheduled to be completed in January 2007.
The facility will have an initial capacity of 270 000 nuclear fuel ”spheres” a year.
Tom Ferreira, spokesperson for the PBMR company, said the nuclear power stations are being jointly developed by Eskom, the South African Industrial Development Corporation and British Nuclear Fuels as a power source for South Africa, as well as a viable export product.
The current schedule is to start construction in 2007 and for the demonstration plant to be completed by 2010, with the first commercial PBMR modules available from 2013.
It is estimated that up to 30 PBMRs could be built for use in South Africa. — Sapa