] along the southern tip of the continent -- in the shadow
] of an aging, obsolescing water-cooled reactor --
] state-run utility giant Eskom and its international
] partners want to build the world's first commercial
] "pebble bed" reactor.

pebble beds are really cool, and about as safe as nuclear power can be. as usual, i'm concerned more about human factors than technical ones. Such as, secure transport and long term storage for the waste, reactor physical security, etc. These days, i consider dirty bombs more threatening than most anything else, and the more nuclear reactors we have, the more nasty waste is available for theiving.

nevertheless, i still think that unless we get some super-efficient photovoltaics Real Soon Now, nuclear is gonna be the only way we can go, and PBMR are at the top of the list as far as that goes.