A pocket-size nuclear option

When the British government said earlier in 2016 that it intended building small modular nuclear-powered generators and have them operating in 10 years, providing electricity to selected towns, it did not feature much in South African media, despite acres of print and much airtime devoted to our nuclear plans.

We have opted to build large nuclear power stations at a cost that opponents say is way too expensive, as well as offering opportunities for corruption.

The British have allocated £30m for research and development into small modular units and a munificent prize for the best commercially viable British design. Better late than never. Other countries are well ahead of Britain in seeing the advantages of small modular units that can be built in factories and assembled on site much faster than the big ones. They are cheaper to build, though they do not necessarily produce electricity as cheaply. But then, the same is true of wind and sun power.

A small modular nuclear-powered generator produces far less power — but that is the point; a new module can be added as demand increases.

The units can be relied on all day, all night and all year.

Greenpeace warns that building them is pointless because new technology will soon make them obsolete, which is rather like stopping building propeller-driven fighters in 1935 because Frank Whittle had a prototype jet engine in his shed. Greenpeace also repeats its standard warnings of hazardous nuclear waste, risks of accidents, weapon proliferation, and so on — none of which apply to small modular nuclear-powered generators to anything like the extent it claims.

There are hundreds of 300MW-700MW reactors already in operation, accompanied by the required engineering expertise.

According to the World Nuclear Association, there are now dozens of small companies working on new small modular nuclear-powered generator designs without government support. One of them is a South African company experimenting with thorium as a fuel and, as rumour has it, a group of people who have taken on the pebble bed reactor idea squashed by the South African government.

In another challenge to green orthodoxy, these designs could provide clean, off-grid power to isolated communities. Most are much safer, even when things go wrong through human error.

The World Nuclear Association says these modular units are compact; can be made in a factory to high-quality standards; need only small amounts of nuclear fuel; can be placed under water or buried; are cheaper to build than standard nuclear power plants; are competitive with wind and photovoltaic systems; and can be decommissioned on site.

They were operating in 28 countries four years ago and another 17 are under construction across the world.

The most advanced small modular reactor project is in China. India and Canada are well advanced in the small modular nuclear-powered generator field. Pakistan and Argentina also have examples in operation.

None of this is to suggest that these units are the answer to our energy needs now or in the future, but it surely raises the question: have incremental additions of small nuclear generators to the existing Eskom grid been considered?

• Bryer is a retired oil company executive.