02 April 2004
	SIDELINES Power in small places

Whatever the future holds for Eskom's Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) - the underfunded nuclear power technology that is claimed to be much cleaner and safer than older reactors - it has been a boon to Potchefstroom University's School of Mechanical & Materials Engineering. Prof Gideon Greyvenstein heads the PBMR research project at the university (now called North West University). With staff and students, he has built a working model of the PBMR and it has been undergoing stringent testing since September 2002. Critics said it could never be done. But power utility Eskom is delighted with the work, which cost R12m. Greyvenstein's speciality, the simulation of thermal-fluid systems , is what led Eskom to his door. He is a strong proponent of small-scale nuclear power. He argues that the PBMR, with an electrical generation capacity of 160 MW, can be built for less than R1,2bn compared with the R17bn needed for a conventional Koeberg-type reactor with an electrical generation capacity of 1 800 MW. The project is a joint venture between Eskom, the Industrial Development Corp and British Nuclear Fuels. GA