Westinghouse mulls more support for SAfrican PBMR
JOHANNESBURG, March 17 (Reuters) - U.S-based Westinghouse Electric, majority owned by Japan's Toshiba Corp., is likely to make an additional investment in South African nuclear technology firm PBMR, an official said on Wednesday.
South Africa is one of the pioneers in developing a power and heat processing plant based on pebble-fuel technology, a fourth-generation nuclear technology that can be used to generate electricity.
The South African government said last month it would stop financial support for the project after the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) company failed to secure outside investment, despite a revised product model.
Robert Pearce, director for development strategy and business planning at Westinghouse, said the government's withdrawal from the project was probably necessary as it needed to choose funding priorities, but his company would consider further support. He said current funding would keep the project going for another 12-15 months.
'Then the point will come when further investment will be required. Westinghouse is evaluating that investment now ... we very likely will make some investment and we will be seeking investment from others as well,' he told an Africa power conference in Johannesburg.
PBMR said in February it would cut up to 600 jobs to cut costs, and its near and medium term future would depend on talks with investors.
Westinghouse, utility Eskom and South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation have so far invested some 8 billion rand ($1.08 billion) to prove the technology since 1999.
However, the development of the technology was hit by the global financial crisis and funding problems at Eskom, its major shareholder.
