The pebble-bed reactor (PBR) is a design for a graphite-moderated, gas-cooled nuclear reactor. It is a type of very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR), one of the six classes of nuclear reactors in the Generation IV initiative.
Koeberg nuclear power station is a nuclear power station in South Africa. It is currently the only one on the entire African continent. It is located 30 km north of Cape Town, near Melkbosstrand on the west coast of South Africa. Koeberg is owned and operated by the country's only national electricity supplier, Eskom.
The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) is a particular design of pebble bed reactor developed by South African company PBMR (Pty) Ltd from 1994 until 2009. PBMR facilities include gas turbine and heat transfer labs at the Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University, and at Pelindaba, a high pressure and temperature helium test rig, as well as a prototype fuel fabrication plant. A planned test reactor at Koeberg was not built.
Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. It was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) and was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). Eskom represents South Africa in the Southern African Power Pool. The utility is the largest producer of electricity in Africa, and was among the top utilities in the world in terms of generation capacity and sales. It is the largest of South Africa's state owned enterprises. Eskom operates a number of notable power stations, including Matimba Power Station and Medupi Power Station in Lephalale, Kusile Power Station in Witbank, Kendal Power Station, and Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in the Western Cape Province, the only nuclear power plant in Africa.
Pelindaba is South Africa's main nuclear research centre, run by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation. It is situated near the Hartbeespoort Dam, approximately 33 km (22 miles) west of Pretoria, on the farm that once belonged to Gustav Preller. During the apartheid era, it was the location where South Africa's atomic bombs were partially developed and constructed.
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, or international level. Major anti-nuclear groups include Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Peace Action, Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. The initial objective of the movement was nuclear disarmament, though since the late 1960s opposition has included the use of nuclear power. Many anti-nuclear groups oppose both nuclear power and nuclear weapons. The formation of green parties in the 1970s and 1980s was often a direct result of anti-nuclear politics.
The Koeberg Alert alliance is an anti-nuclear activist organisation which emerged from an earlier pressure group in Cape Town called "Stop Koeberg" in 1983. Both were intended to halt construction of the first nuclear power station in South Africa at Duynefontein, 28 km NNW of Cape Town: the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station.
The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) was established as a public company by the Republic of South Africa Nuclear Energy Act in 1999 and is wholly owned by the State. The name is correctly indicated above, although the sequence of letters in the acronym may be taken as suggesting that the name should be the "Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa".
The Cape Town Ecology Group was a South Africa-based radical environmental group, founded in 1987, as a "child of Koeberg Alert", and active until the early 1990s. It espoused a more political-oriented green ideology as opposed to the apartheid-based conservation groups of the time. According to founder Mike Cope: "We felt the need to view ecological issues on a broader level and recognised the connection between politics and ecology. Ecology is definitely a political issue because environmental issues are about where we live."
The environmental movement in South Africa traces its history from the early beginnings of conservation, to the rise of radicalism and activism amongst local ecologists. Before the Chernobyl disaster and the fall of the Berlin Wall, there were very few green activist groups in the country. Koeberg Alert and the Dolphin Action and Protection Group are probably two of the oldest post-conservation groups.
Nuclear weapons testing, uranium mining and export, and nuclear power have often been the subject of public debate in Australia, and the anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history. Its origins date back to the 1972–1973 debate over French nuclear testing in the Pacific and the 1976–1977 debate about uranium mining in Australia.
As a member of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, South Africa uses nuclear science for peaceful means. South Africa's nuclear programme includes both nuclear energy and nuclear medicine. In the past there was also a military component, and South Africa previously possessed nuclear weapons, which were subsequently dismantled.
The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, includes all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth.
South Africa is the only country in Africa with a commercial nuclear power plant.
South Africa has a large energy sector, being the third-largest economy in Africa. The country consumed 227 TWh of electricity in 2018. The vast majority of South Africa's electricity was produced from coal, with the fuel responsible for 88% of production in 2017. South Africa is the 7th largest coal producer in the world. As of July 2018, South Africa had a coal power generation capacity of 39 gigawatts (GW). South Africa is the world's 14th largest emitter of greenhouse gases. South Africa is planning to shift away from coal in the electricity sector and the country produces the most solar and wind energy by terawatt-hours in Africa. The country aims to decommission 34 GW of coal-fired power capacity by 2050. It also aims to build at least 20 GW of renewable power generation capacity by 2030. South Africa aims to generate 77,834 megawatts (MW) of electricity by 2030, with new capacity coming significantly from renewable sources to meet emission reduction targets. Through its goals stated in the Integrated Resource Plan, it announced the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, which aims to increase renewable power generation through private sector investment.
NUKEM Technologies GmbH is a nuclear engineering and consulting company managing radioactive waste and spent fuel and decommissioning of nuclear facilities. The company is located in Alzenau, Germany. It was established in 2006 as a subsidiary of Nukem Energy. On 14 December 2009, Nukem Technologies was sold to Russian Atomstroyexport for €23.5 million.
The Electricity sector in South Africa is an important part of energy in South Africa.
The South African energy crisis is an ongoing period of widespread national blackouts of electricity supply. It began in the later months of 2007 and continues to the present. The South African government-owned national power utility and primary power generator, Eskom, and various parliamentarians attributed these rolling-blackouts to insufficient generation capacity.
