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IST GROUP LIMITED - (Registration no. 1998/011521/06) ISIN: ZAE000015798 Share code: IST For further information, contact: Harry Coetzee Giel de Lange IST Group IST Nuclear Chief Executive Managing Director 012-426-7300 012-426-7444 or 082-881-9255 082 558 8979 IST NUCLEAR AWARDED DESIGN CONTRACT FOR PEBBLE BED MODULAR REACTOR SYSTEMS Pretoria, 18 August 2003 - The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Company has awarded a R260 million contract to IST Nuclear, a member of the IST group, for the detailed design of three key systems for the PBMR demonstration plant. The largest single contract in the IST group"s history, it will be executed over 42 months and will more than double the IST Nuclear division"s current turnover of some R37 million per year. The budgeted expenditure on the contract - which will run concurrently with the PBMR contracts previously awarded to IST Nuclear - is R19 million for the period July to December 2003. It is expected that IST Nuclear will also be retained for other aspects of the PBMR project should the construction phase be approved. The award of this contract follows the announcement last year that IST Nuclear had been appointed as the supplier of three systems - fuel handling and storage; reactivity control and shutdown; and gas conditioning and control - for the PBMR demonstration phase as well as for the first 10 commercially produced plants, should the project reach that stage. The demonstration phase of the PBMR project, which is still subject to government consent and regulatory approvals, involves the construction of a demonstration plant at Koeberg near Cape Town and an associated fuel plant at Pelindaba near Pretoria. The demonstration plant is scheduled for completion in about five years" time. IST Nuclear was established in 2001 to focus the IST group"s involvement in the nuclear industry. This dates back to 1990, when IST embarked on the conceptualisation and design of a pebble bed modular reactor for commercial applications. Having recognised the potential scale of the project - which combines the knowledge base established by German pebble bed reactors with direct cycle power generation in an inherently safe reactor design - IST presented the concept to Eskom, which since 1993 has been further refining and developing it. Eskom subsequently established the PBMR Company for this purpose, in partnership with the Industrial Development Corporation and British Nuclear Fuels plc, among others. The three systems, which are now proceeding through the detailed design phase, are: * Fuel handling and storage (FHSS): The PBMR relies on a minimum level of excess reactivity potential, equivalent to operating a vehicle with a very limited fuel tank and constantly adding just enough fuel to keep it running. In order to accomplish this, a reliable FHSS - which is actually a number of separate subsystems dedicated to the transport, analysis and storage of the fuel spheres - is needed to service the reactor unit. * Reactivity control and shutdown system (RCSS): System reactivity is controlled by two separate subsystems. The PBMR"s throttle is the reactivity control system (RCS), which controls the position of the control rods in the reactor and thereby the generation of heat. The reserve shutdown system (RSS) ensures independent safe shutdown for maintenance or in an emergency. It can release small absorber spheres to make the reactor sub-critical without active intervention. * Gas systems: The PBMR follows the power demand with high efficiency by adjusting the mass flow of the primary medium, which is helium. It relies on the helium inventory control system (HICS) to manage the helium resource. The HICS has three subsystems to refill, store and purify the helium. The conditioning gas systems (CGS) include the core conditioning system (CCS), core barrel conditioning system (CBCS) and the start-up blower system (SBS). Issued by du Plessis Associates on behalf of IST Group. dPA contact: Kathy du Plessis on tel: 011-728-4701, fax: 011-728 2547, mobile: 083 266 5847 or e-mail: ist@dpapr.com Date: 18/08/2003 11:42:08 AM Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za Produced by the JSE SENS Department
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