Appeals rejected against PBMR fuel plant
30 January 2007
South Africa's Minister for Environmental Affairs and Tourism has rejected appeals against the development of a pilot plant at Pelindaba to manufacture fuel for Eskom's planned pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR) at Koeberg.
Marthinus van Schalkwyk released his Record of Decision (RoD) on 26 January. He said that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) complied with the necessary requirements and that the plant would not have a "significant detrimental impact on the environment," if the conditions under which it was authorized were implemented.
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) had received a total of 27 appeals from various organizations and individuals. The appellants were, among other things, dissatisfied with the EIA process, opposed to the consequences of long-term storage of high-level radioactive waste and contaminated materials, as well as the environmental impacts associated with the pilot fuel plant in terms of radiological safety and accident scenarios, such as graphite fires and health impacts.
Moreover, appellants also opposed the delinking of the pilot fuel plant and the demonstration PBMR, which were granted RoDs simultaneously. Van Schalkwyk said that the two RoDs related to separate projects, which "should have been treated as such from the outset."
There were appeals against both RoDs, but before any decision was made, environmental group Earthlife Africa successfully used a review action to challenge in the Cape High Court the RoD granted in respect of Eskom's application to build the PBMR at Koeberg.
Van Schalkwyk said, "Although the projects might be related, it is clear that each project could be implemented independently from the other and that they have different implementation schedules. The geographical location, the physical environment and the nature of the environmental impacts and risks of the two projects also differ significantly."
He noted that two and a half years had elapsed since the issuing of the RoDs and that the time lapse warranted an amended RoD.
The nuclear fuel will be manufactured by Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa) at a pilot plant within its BEVA complex at Pelindaba in the North West Province. The raw material for the fuel will be transported to Pelindaba from Durban, and the manufactured fuel will be brought from Pelindaba to Koeberg, near Cape Town.
Further information
Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa
PBMR (Pty) Ltd
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
WNA's Nuclear Power in South Africa information paper
WNA's Advanced Nuclear Power Reactors information paper