Eskom's Koeberg nuclear power plant in the Western Cape.
Rosatom, the state-owned nuclear power company of Russia, has begun construction of the world’s first export Small Modular Nuclear Power Plant in Uzbekistan, which gives South Africa the opportunity to study the practical aspects of constructing small modular reactors.
A ceremony marking the start of construction of the first power unit of an integrated nuclear power plant (NPP) took place at the site in Farish District of Uzbekistan’s Jizzakh Region last week, a statement from Rosatom said Thursday.
The pouring of the first concrete into the foundation of the future unit, within the integrated nuclear power plant project, also marked the transition of the facility into a status of 'under construction' in accordance with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) standards.
South Africa was once a world leader in the development of small, pebble-bed modular nuclear reactors, but this ended during President Jacob Zuma’s administration due to perceived funding constraints. However, since then, Centurion-based Stratek Holdings is currently at the stage where it is ready to build an improved version of the earlier PBMR that was pioneered by South Africa in the early 2000s.
