A previously-discarded German technology called Pebble Bed Modular Reaction (PBMR) is being resurrected in South Africa as a potential answer to the world's energy problems. (The illustration is from a Science in Africa story on PBMR, published last year.)

It's pretty simple. Uranium is embedded into graphite pebbles, which are tossed into a vessel that itself is surrounded by graphite. Helium is run through the system to collect the heat of the reaction, and that helium then drives a turbine. Left alone the reaction dissipates, so the creators say there's no need for expensive containment. And spent fuel is truly spent, making expensive transport unnecessary.

To these claims environmentalists say...well it's not proper language for a family blog. But Eskom, South Africa's state-run power company, wants to move ahead, pending a November hearing at Cape High Court.

The promise of the technology has South Africa dreaming of re-making itself as a center for energy technology. If a demonstration plant can be built there, the technology might be exported and South Africans would have a replacement for coal, which now supplies 90% of the country's energy.

This also has the U.S. Department of Energy looking again at "cold fusion," an idea rejected many years ago.