- The Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa has signed agreements with the US, Korea, and China to advance uranium mining, fuel fabrication, and nuclear medicine.
- Bill Gates recently announced that he was going to source highly enriched uranium (HALEU) from South Africa for his Natrium reactor and energy storage system being developed in Kemmerer, Wyoming, USA.
Plans include a new multi-purpose reactor to replace Safari-1 located in Pelindaba which is a 20 MW light water-cooled, beryllium reflected, pool-type research reactor, initially used for high level nuclear physics research programmes and was commissioned in 1965. Treasury will allocate over R1 billion for the project. The minister says these steps aim to strengthen South Africa’s nuclear energy and medical isotope sectors.
USA interested in sourcing low-enriched uranium from South Africa
The latest tech on small module reactors requires high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) enrichment and deconversion facilities have monopolised the nuclear fuel cycle conversation lately. Bill Gates recently announced that he was going to source the HALEU from South Africa for his Natrium reactor and energy storage system being developed by TerraPower in Kemmerer, Wyoming, USA.
Mining houses in South Africa have been producing enriched uranium for many decades. Read more
HALEU is enriched to levels of up to 20%, compared with about 5% for the fuel that powers most existing reactors. Until recently it was made in commercial amounts only in Russia, but the United States wants to produce it to fuel a new wave of reactors.
“Suppliers in the United Kingdom and South Africa, along with an eventual supply from uranium mines in the U.S. and Canada will allow the project to go forward”, said Gates Read more
Related news: The full history of South Africa’s nuclear weapons programme
Gates has invested US$1 billion of his own money into the nuclear power plant that broke ground in Kemmerer, Wyo recently. The new facility, designed by the Gates-founded TerraPower, will be smaller than traditional fission nuclear power plants and, in theory, safer because it will use sodium instead of water to cool the reactor’s core.
TerraPower estimates the plant could be built for up to US$4 billion (R70 billion), the other US$3 billion coming from the US government.
TerraPower’s President and chief executive officer, Chris Levesque, met with Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, South Africa’s Minister of Electricity and Energy, and Loyiso Tyabashe, Group CEO of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) along with their teams last week where they executed a term sheet with ASP Isotopes Inc.(ASP) to expand global production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU).
ASP is a South Africa based company specialising in the development and production of the nuclear fuels of the future including HALEU, Lithium 6 and 7 and Chlorine 37. They have entered into Memorandum of Understanding with the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) to collaborate on the research, development and construction of an advanced nuclear fuel production facility.
TerraPower’s agreement is the first step towards a two-fold definitive agreement; TerraPower plans to invest in the construction of a HALEU enrichment facility in South Africa, and TerraPower would purchase HALEU from the facility. This serves as one of many investments TerraPower has made to secure access to the fuel for the Natrium reactor and energy storage system being developed in Kemmerer, Wyoming, USA.
TerraPower Natrium plant in Wyoming is the first coal-to-nuclear project under development in the world. Non-nuclear construction activities began this summer, making it the first advanced reactor project to move from design into construction. The plant is being developed through a public-private partnership with the DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.
The Natrium technology features a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system. The storage technology can boost the system’s output to 500 MWe for more than five and a half hours when needed. This innovative addition allows a Natrium plant to integrate seamlessly with renewable resources and leads to faster, more cost-effective decarbonization of the electric grid while producing dispatchable carbon-free energy.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
