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Programme • Programme
notes
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Monday, November 27, 2006
Chair
Bertrand Vieillard-Baron
Director General, French Nuclear Energy Society, Paris
Welcome Addresses
• Buyelwa Sonjica
Minister
of Minerals & Energy
The Nuclear
Option
Nuclear
power—a science
for all: should the international nuclear
community promote its benign use in developing countries?
Philippe Garderet
Scientific Vice President, AREVA, France
Geopolitics and the role of nuclear power: the interplay
of economic growth, energy availability, and national strategic
energy planning both
globally and regionally.
Andrew Kenny
Independent Commentator
A summary:
the options for nuclear power in Africa
Alan McDonald
Programme Liaison Officer, Department of Nuclear Energy,
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
A South African Perspective
A perspective from the ground: assessing the practicality
of nuclear power for Africa.
Rob Adam
Chief Executive Officer, Nuclear Energy Corporation of
South Africa
The case for nuclear power: a combination of economics
and logistics.
Thembani Bukula
Director Electricity Regulation, National Electricity Regulator
of South Africa
Different
Perspectives of Nuclear Safety
Prof Chang-Sun Kang
Department of Nuclear Engineering
Seoul National University;
Member of the International Nuclear Safety Group (INSAG)
Lunch at
Hôtel Le Vendôme
Technological and Structural Options
Chair
Gert Claassen
Manager International Marketing, Pebble Bed Modular Reactor
(PBMR) (Pty) Ltd, Pretoria
• Yves Guenon
Business Development Director, Plants Sector, AREVA NP
• Jerry Hopwood
Vice-President, Reactor Development, AECL
• Nils Breckenridge
Manager, Strategy and Marketing
Westinghouse Electric Company, USA
• Chang-Sun Kang
Department of Nuclear Engineering
Seoul National University
Member of the International Nuclear Safety Group (INSAG)
Welcome
dinner
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Requirements for a Nuclear Power Programme
Chair
Alan McDonald
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Managing the fuel cycle:
the options.
Henri Zaccai
Vice President, Sales Development and Marketing, AREVA NC
Operational requirements: What is required in terms of
infrastructure, technology transfer, and plant operation
and maintenance?
David Boath
International and Reactor Development Director, Amec NNC,
UK
Finance:
The challenges of financing an African nuclear plant?
• Anne Renzi
Director, Deputy Head of Export Finance, AREVA
NP
• Ron Cullen
Vice-President, Projects, AECL, Canada
Lunch
at Hôtel Le Vendôme
Each discussion
will be followed by a short break for refreshments. The
proceedings will be recorded, and copies of the recordings
will be available.
Programme
notes
The present
Of the 442 nuclear power plants in operation in 31 countries,
just two are in Africa: Koeberg-1 and Koeberg-2 in South
Africa. Both are 900 MW(e) PWRs. Of the 28 currently
under construction none is in Africa. However, one of
the promising new reactor designs reaching the prototype
stage is African - South Africa's Pebble Bed
Modular Reactor (PBMR).
The future
Nuclear power is projected to grow fastest in developing
Asian countries where annual electricity consumption
per capita is currently small, specifically China, India
and Pakistan. 28 new nuclear power plants are currently
under construction, equivalent to 6% of existing capacity.
Some 38 plants are firmly planned, equivalent to 10%
of capacity. Of the last 31 reactors connected to the
grid, 21 are in the Far East and South Asia.
PBMR, or some other innovative nuclear power system, could
provide Africa with the opportunity to make a technological
leap-frog, thereby avoiding the intermediate steps that
industrialized countries with long-established nuclear
power programmes had to take.
Energy policy
To achieve sustainable development, one of the first tasks
for Africa is to bring energy, particularly electricity,
to the millions of people without it. Both electricity
consumption and production will have to increase significantly.
Off-grid renewable energy is often seen as the best option
for bringing power to the rural poor. But rural electrification
can complement these technologies. To meet the growing
urban and peri-urban demand for electricity, large centralized
power generation is needed. Under the scenario of sustainable
development, a role for nuclear power in Africa should
be considered.
The economics
The question "Is nuclear power economic?" depends
on the indigenous energy resources of a country, on the
infrastructure and human resources, on the cost of the
alternatives to nuclear power, on the environmental constraints,
and on the country's energy security policies. Because
new nuclear power plants are relatively expensive to build
but relatively inexpensive to operate, it also depends
on whether the investment environment requires short- or
long-term returns. Where governments are direct investors,
they can generally take a longer-term view than private
firms in a liberalized market. Governments can also directly
incorporate into their energy investment choices non-market
considerations like energy security or environmental impact.
For the increased use of nuclear power in Africa, it will
be necessary to bridge the gap between the economies of
scale that favour large nuclear plants and the smaller
electrical grids and capital capabilities of many African
countries. Possibilities are, first, new small and medium-size
reactor designs and, second, integration of the electricity
grids of neighbouring countries.
Small & medium
reactors (SMRs) and
off-site refuelling
Several advanced SMR designs that could be more cost-effective
for Africa are moving towards implementation. Combining
SMRs with off-site refuelling could further improve the
economics. The unloading of spent nuclear fuel and loading
of fresh fuel would be done in a supplier country with
a full fuel cycle. The spent fuel would, therefore, remain
the responsibility of the supplier country. This would
remove the need for a developing country to build a final
repository for high-level nuclear waste. Such a scenario
is likely to make a reactor more proliferation resistant
and encourage support for the developing country's
nuclear programme.
A related
alternative is that of straightforward fuel leasing.
In this case refuelling occurs on-site, but the fuel
is owned by the supplier country, and the spent fuel
is the supplier country's
responsibility. Again this would remove the need for
each developing country to build a final repository for
high-level nuclear waste. It may even be possible to
lease a SMR itself. The leasing concept could also be
extended to leasing services, where, for example, a barge-mounted
SMR is used to supply electricity, heat and/or desalinated
seawater, while the supplier retains responsibility,
not just for the fuel and reactor, but also for the full
operation of the plant.
Regionalization & integration
The larger the nuclear plant the greater the economies
of scale. But many African countries do not have the
necessary capital and electricity demand to support a
large plant. Regionalization and integration could provide
a solution.
Also the greater the number of nuclear plants supported
by the national infrastructure, the lower is the per unit
(or per kilowatt-hour) cost of that infrastructure. Nuclear
power infrastructure includes the institutional framework
and legislation within which nuclear facilities operate,
and the industrial, economic, social, technical and scientific
capabilities to enable the secure and efficient development,
management and operation of nuclear power facilities. These
up-front infrastructure investments present a substantial
requirement, particularly if a country initially needs
only a relatively small amount of power from nuclear energy.
Cooperation can mitigate the cost of these requirements.
International cooperation
Besides regional cooperation, international cooperation
is essential for the development of an African nuclear
industry. Although developing countries may well dominate
future markets for nuclear power plants, it is developed
countries that currently have the most R&D resources
and expertise. One of their goals should be to share
their resources and expertise for the future needs of
developing countries through international cooperation.
Providing systems of access to the global nuclear communities'
knowledge pool will be a major factor in the promotion
of nuclear energy in Africa. |
