"The global financial crisis and related impact on funding – particularly on the South African electricity utility Eskom – has prompted the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) company to consider near-term market opportunities based on customer requirements to service both the electricity and process heat markets.
One of the considerations is the modification of the design planned for the Demonstration Power Plant project at Koeberg near Cape Town to also service potential customers such as the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) project in the US, which is funded by the US Department of Energy, oil sands producers in Canada (to produce the temperature and associated pressure needed to extract bitumen from oil sands) and the South African petro-chemical company Sasol (to either produce process steam and/or hydrogen to upgrade coal products). Another potential application is the use of the PBMR’s waste heat for desalination.
According to Jaco Kriek, CEO of Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (Pty) Ltd, discussions are underway with suppliers to put certain contracts on hold to prevent unnecessary spending. He emphasizes, however, that no contracts have been cancelled."
This statement was issued by PBMR (Pty) on 5 February 2009
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