South Africa The economic feasibility study for the pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) demonstration plant was released at the end of July.
The report was completed last December, and its release came only nine days before the end of the period for public comment on the environmental impact assessment (EIA). Otto Graubner, a director at Poltech, which is conducting the EIA, said that the financial information contained in the study was not relevant to the EIA.
Initially, the department of minerals and energy said the economic assessment would not be released because it contained company-sensitive information. A "public" version was then passed by the PBMR company to the government department, but its release was delayed due to confusion between the department and Eskom over who should be responsible for making the report public.
