re posted from IOL
The PBMR was, and still is, a sensible investment that would provide affordable carbon-dioxide-free energy to the mining, cement, and steel industries, not just in South Africa, but throughout the African continent….
Kantey’s statement about nuclear accidents is based on an outdated understanding of radiation called Linear No Threshold (LNT). LNT caused the moral panic at Three Mile Island, Fukushima, and Chernobyl.
The anti-nukes, as usual, are just plain wrong
In terms of costs, Eskom’s balance sheet shows that no independent power provider is cheaper than Koeberg Power Station. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)
by Hügo Krüger 10 August 2023
Mike Kantey, the former chairperson of the “National” Coalition Against Nuclear Energy, recently attacked the energy expert Hlathi Madela in a right of reply in Business Report, “Words without end: A factual approach to the nuclear debate”, on August 3.
Kantey makes four claims about nuclear energy that are just plain wrong: The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), nuclear proliferation, the danger of radiation, and the cost.
Kantey is right that the PBMR did indeed cost South Africa around R10 billion, but why doesn’t he say that the project ran over a period of 14 years? India with a significantly poorer population than South Africa, invests heavily in science and engineering and the pay-off is that the Indians recently constructed their own domestic heavy water reactor. Why shouldn’t South Africans follow their lead?
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