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The Department of Energy's Director of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology William D. Magwood, IV, recently led a U.S. delegation to South Africa to discuss international cooperation on nuclear technology research and development and South Africa's efforts to develop pebble-bed nuclear reactor technology. The pebble-bed nuclear reactor is a small gas-cooled reactor (approximately 100 Mwe) that the South African utility (ESKOM) is developing as a future domestic and exported energy source. The pebble-bed nuclear reactor offers potential economic advantages that ESKOM believes will make it highly cost-competitive. The delegation included representatives of the Department of State and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who met with the Department of Minerals and Energy staff, representatives of ESKOM; the Council for Nuclear Safety; and the Atomic Energy Corporation, which will manufacture the fuel for the pebble-bed. The group also toured Koeburg, the location of South Africa's two operating nuclear units and the planned site for a pebble-bed pilot plant.

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News You Can Use--March 1, 2000