VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSA #4597 3101434
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061434Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6753
INFO RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS PRETORIA 004597 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS TO ABIENIAWSKI, DOE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG KNNP IAEA PARM PREL SF
SUBJECT: NEXT STEPS FOR U.S./SOUTH AFRICA AGREEMENT TO TAKE 
BACK U.S.-ORIGIN SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL 
 
¶1. This cable is sensitive but unclassified.  Not for 
internet distribution. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary. South African government approval will be 
more likely for a project to take back U.S.-origin nuclear 
fuel assemblies once a technical feasibility study has been 
revised by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Nuclear 
Energy Corporation of South African (NECSA) to explain the 
benefits of the project such as knowledge transfer and 
storage space creation.  End Summary. 
 
¶3. (SBU) A feasibility study to take back U.S.-origin spent 
nuclear fuel from South Africa is being revised by the U.S. 
Department of Energy (DOE) and the Nuclear Energy Corporation 
of South Africa (NECSA) to improve likelihood that the 
project will gain approval from the South African government. 
 The original version of the feasability study addressed 
primarily the technical challenges relating to returning 
U.S.-origin spent nuclear fuel assemblies from the South 
African SAFARI research reactor.  The revised feasibility 
study will address concerns expressed by South African 
Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) Nuclear Chief Mr. 
Tseliso Maquebela. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
¶4. (SBU) Econoff and DOE's Andrew Bieniawski and Charles 
Messick met October 27th with DME Nuclear Chief Mr. Tseliso 
Maquebela to discuss the U.S. origin nuclear fuel take back 
program feasibility study.   Two days later on the margins of 
the RERTR (Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors) 
International Meeting in Cape Town, Econoff, Bieniawski and 
Messick met with NECSA's CEO Rob Adam and GM Van Zyl de 
Villiers to revise the study.  During the meeting with 
Maquebela, Maquebela stated that the study did a good job of 
addressing the technical challenges relating to the shipment 
of spent fuel assemblies from the SAFARI nuclear test reactor 
in Pelindba, 30 km west of Pretoria, to the South African 
coast.  However, Maquebela stated that "certain elements" 
within the South African government needed to be convinced of 
the benefits of returning the spent fuel and that the 
feasibility study did not fully convey these benefits. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Chief among the benefits to incur to South Africa by 
shipping spent nuclear fuel back to the U.S. are storage 
space creation and knowledge transfer.  South Africa stores 
spent-fuel of various origin at both the Pelindaba site and 
at its commercial reactor site at Koeberg near Cape Town. 
The South African's are running out of on-site storage space 
and need to either create more space or begin shipping 
spent-fuel out of the country or to alternative designated 
sites within South Africa.  DME's severely understaffed 
nuclear section lacks the knowledge base to oversee such 
shipments.  Maquebela has repeatedly expressed his desire to 
learn from the experience of shipping U.S.-origin fuel and 
hopes that significant knowlege transfer will result and that 
the knowledge will be used for other fuel shipments. 
 
¶6. (SBU) A revised feasibility study will be authored within 
the next thirty days by NECSA and DOE for delivery to DME's 
Maqubela who offered assurances that the study will then be 
sent expeditiously to DME Minister Buyelwa Sonjica for her 
approval.  Maquebela was unclear about the nature of the 
approval process after obtaining the minister's blessing.  He 
said the project needed to be discussed by the cabinet but he 
also thought that the revised feasibility study and the 
minister's approval would be enough to obtain parliament's 
approval for the project. 
BOST