4 ms·
This is putting the car before the horse. If South Africa wants to enjoy a nuclear renaissance, it needs to look at whoever was successful lately in building n
by credit_guy 3y ago
This is putting the car before the horse.
If South Africa wants to enjoy a nuclear renaissance, it needs to look at whoever was successful lately in building nuclear power plants and draw conclusions. The United Arab Emirates started building 4 such plants 12 years ago, and last month they hooked the last to grid. Each generates 1.3 GW of electricity. Turkey started building 4 plants in 2018 and the first will be hooked to the grid in the coming months, the last being scheduled for 2026. Each of these plants delivers 1.2 GWe. Pakistan started building two 1 GWe plants in 2015, and hooked them in 2021 and 2022.
All these examples have one thing in common: pressurized water reactors. This is the most widespread design worldwide. One could say it's also a boring design, HTR (high temperature reactor) is so much sexier. But boring is good. In the nuclear energy space, you want boring.