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Viewing cable 07PRETORIA3674, DME SEEKS MEETING ON NUCLEAR COOPERATION

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07PRETORIA3674 2007-10-18 13:24 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Pretoria
VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSA #3674/01 2911324
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181324Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2320
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0673
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 2016
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1332
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0679
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1191
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0227
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0506
RUEHTN/AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN 4975
RUCPDC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0236
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS PRETORIA 003674 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/S, EEB/ESC, ISN 
DOE FOR T.SPERL, G.PERSON, A.BIENAWSKI, L.PARKER, M.SCOTT, 
M.CLAPPER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG TRGY KNNP PREL BEXP IAEA SF
SUBJECT: DME SEEKS MEETING ON NUCLEAR COOPERATION 
 
REF: A. PRETORIA 3589 
     B. STATE 142879 
     C. STATE 141182 
     D. STATE 145573 
     E. PRETORIA 2854 
 
 1.  (U) This is an action request for State and DOE.  Please 
see paragraphs 2 and 9. 
 
2.  (SBU) SUMMARY: The South African Department of Minerals 
and Energy (DME) proposes a half-day meeting at the end of 
November in South Africa to advance areas of cooperation in 
nuclear technology.  The objective would be to identify areas 
of agreement and disagreement on the full range of fuel cycle 
issues and to plan for the proposed February meeting in South 
Africa of the Joint Standing Committee on Nuclear Cooperation 
(JSCNC).  Economic Counselor repeated Ref B and C messages 
about USG interest in moving forward on signing the Agreement 
on Cooperation in Nuclear R&D and initiating the return of 
spent nuclear fuel program.  End Summary. 
 
3.  (SBU) R&D AGREEMENT AND SPENT FUEL: Department of 
Minerals and Energy (DME) Deputy Director General (DDG) 
Nelisiwe Magubane and Chief Director: Nuclear Tseliso 
Maqubela met with Economic Counselor and Minerals/Energy 
Officer on October 17 to advance bilateral nuclear 
cooperation initiatives stemming from Magubane's visit to the 
U.S. last April.  Embassy Officers reiterated U.S. interest 
in signing the Agreement on Cooperation in R&D in Nuclear 
Technology (Ref B).  Magubane said DME strongly supported 
signing the agreement and asked the Embassy to "push" the 
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which is shepherding 
inter-agency approval.  Economic Counselor will make an 
inquiry with DFA Director: USA Fadl Nacerodien.  Embassy 
Officials repeated Ref C points that DOE was ready to move 
forward on the return of spent nuclear fuel program.  Embassy 
subsequently facilitated organization of a conference call 
with DOE and SAG officials for October 19 to move forward on 
this initiative.  Maqubela commented on two benefits for 
South Africa implementing the program: reducing a liability 
and gaining experience in handling and moving the spent fuel. 
 Maqubela also expressed support for USG efforts to 
accomplish return of spent fuel in the DRC.  "It would be a 
plus to link the return of spent fuel from the DRC with the 
return of spent fuel from South Africa", he said.  Per Ref D 
guidance, Embassy Officers said they could not provide a 
response at this time. 
 
4.  (SBU) JSCNC AND GNEP: Magubane recalled the intention for 
South Africa to host a JSCNC launch meeting in Cape Town in 
February.  Maqubela cautioned that in the run-up to the bid 
for new nuclear build between Westinghouse and Areva, it 
would be more difficult to start new bilateral initiatives. 
However, he recognized that this proposal had been under 
discussion for a long time, so there could be justification 
in moving forward on it.  Magubane suggested that there be an 
earlier half-day meeting at the end of November in South 
Africa to clarify areas of agreement and disagreement with 
respect to the full range of the nuclear fuel cycle to lay 
the groundwork for nuclear cooperation in the many areas 
under discussion, including the Global Nuclear Energy 
Partnership (GNEP) (Ref A).  Maqubela said he would provide 
SAG comments to the GNEP Principles to both DOE and the 
Embassy. 
 
5.  (SBU) NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE: Maqubela stressed the SAG 
commitment to beneficiate uranium and consider enrichment of 
uranium, including potentially serving as an "international 
fuel center", as part of gaining security of supply and 
economies of scale.  He would like to know if the USG is 
opposed to South Africa developing this capacity, noting that 
GNEP seems to be premised on helping current nuclear powers 
maintain their control of the lucrative nuclear fuel market. 
Maqubela asserted that this impression would be removed if 
South Africa were allowed to participate in this market. 
 
6.  (SBU) GENERATION IV FRAMEWORK (GIF) AND FUTUREGEN: 
Maqubela stated that approval for South Africa's accession to 
the GIF had been secured in the National Assembly on 
September 13.  However, he was embarrassed that a procedural 
snafu had delayed submission of accession approval in the 
second house, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). 
Maqubela said that the accession approval would be submitted 
in the NCOP on October 23.  Changing the topic, Maqubela said 
that the SAG was also interested in the U.S. Futuregen 
project (a zero emmissions, coal-fired prototype) and noted 
that state electricity company Eskom was engaged in related 
research. 
 
7.  (SBU) NEW NUCLEAR BUILD: Maquebela asked whether the U.S. 
would provide a "comprehensive package" for the Westinghouse 
bid for building Eskom's new nuclear plants, like the French 
are expected to do.  Economic Counselor said Westinghouse 
could be expected to offer a comprehensive package, including 
price, modular design, safety, localization and training. 
The USG would advocate for Westinghouse, but its package 
would not necessarily include a USG component.  Maqubela 
noted that when China awarded a major nuclear contract to 
Westinghouse last year, the U.S. Secretary of Energy had been 
present the week before the award.  He said this demonstrated 
"high-level" support for China's nuclear construction 
program. 
 
8.  (SBU) COMMENT: The SAG supports the beneficiation of all 
South Africa's mineral production, including future uranium 
production.  Consequently, the SAG is not inclined to 
participate in bilateral or multilateral initiatives which 
require it to renounce building capacity to provision its own 
nuclear power plants.  This is because South Africa plans to 
base 25 percent of its electric power production on nuclear 
power plants by 2025.  End Comment. 
 
9.  (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: Post requests that State and DOE 
provide a response on interest and availability to the SAG 
offer to host a meeting at the end of November to assess and 
advance bilateral nuclear technology cooperation initiatives. 
 In addition, post requests that State and DOE provide 
guidance on USG views on South Africa's intentions to 
consider enrichment and potential supply of nuclear fuel. 
Teitelbaum