VZCZCXRO1607
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSA #2401/01 3081206
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 031206Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6253
INFO RUCPDC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0866
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0742
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1618
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0877
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1454
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0708
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 002401 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS USAID 
STATE PLEASE PASS USGS 
DEPT FOR AF/S, EEB/ESC AND CBA 
DOE FOR SPERL AND PERSON 
DOC FOR ITA/DIEMOND 
 
E.O.   12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG EPET EMIN EINV EIND ETRD SF
SUBJECT: ASME NUCLEAR STANDARDS WORKSHOP SUPPORTS WESTINGHOUSE BID 
 
REF: Pretoria 440 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: U.S. Embassy Pretoria supported the American 
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Nuclear Codes and Standards 
Workshop October 7-9 in Johannesburg, which successfully promoted 
Westinghouse's bid for significant new nuclear build in South 
Africa.  State power utility Eskom and the SAG have postponed a 
decision on new nuclear build given technical, financial, and 
political challenges.  Eskom says the decision will still be made in 
2008, but further delay until after April/May 2009 elections is 
possible.  END SUMMARY. 
 
-------------------------- 
ASME Nuclear Standards Gig 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) 
Nuclear Codes and Standards workshop took place in Johannesburg 
October 7-9.  The official purpose of the workshop was to explain 
and promote ASME standards as a means for potential South African 
nuclear industry suppliers to join the global supply chain.  The 
workshop was over-subscribed with over 400 delegates attending, with 
little reduction in attendance over the two days of meetings.  The 
third day was a field trip to Columbus Stainless Steel (septel). 
Many areas of the mission contributed to making this a successful 
event, thereby realizing the original vision promoted by the 
Commercial Service of South Africa (CCSA).  The Commercial and 
Economic Counselors and much of their staff attended most of the 
workshop. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The ASME workshop was hosted by the South African 
Industrial Development Corporation.  The Nuclear Industry 
Association of South Africa (NIASA) was involved in the planning and 
many of the delegates came from its ranks.  The co-lead sponsors 
were Westinghouse and Areva of France, representing the two bidders 
on new nuclear build in South Africa for state power utility Eskom. 
Westinghouse's bidding partner and local construction firm Murray & 
Roberts, Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), Steinmuller, and 
TUVRheinland were also sponsors.  ASME Vice President Bryan Erler, 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of New Reactors Director of 
Engineering Michael Mayfield, and Nuclear Energy Corporation of 
South Africa (NECSA) General Manager Van Zyl de Villiers were among 
the opening speakers at the workshop, stressing the opportunities 
presented by the renewed global interest in nuclear power.  Eskom 
sent a significant number of participants who asked many questions 
during the sessions. 
 
--------------------- 
Westinghouse Advocacy 
--------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The unofficial purpose of the workshop was to support 
Westinghouse's bid as a global supplier committed to localization in 
South Africa and the ASME standard in its global supply chain, 
although ASME was technically neutral on the bidding competition. 
Areva uses its own standard, RCC-M, although it will have to use 
ASME if it is successful in winning new nuclear build in the U.S. 
In principle, South Africa could utilize ASME with either supplier. 
The locally developed PBMR utilizes ASME and Westinghouse is a 
shareholder in PBMR.  Westinghouse and ASME were both very pleased 
with the event and thanked the mission for its support.  Areva had a 
Qwith the event and thanked the mission for its support.  Areva had a 
lower key presence, but at the last moment filled one speaker slot 
and made a makeshift booth.  Areva's local CEO and his assistant, 
who failed to pre-register, were in the audience wearing a hastily 
written name-tag. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) ASME representatives visiting South Africa for the event 
held a number of side meetings with various South African officials, 
including the nuclear project decision makers at Eskom.  In a 
two-hour meeting at Eskom headquarters, ASME officials argued that 
Eskom could and should utilize ASME standards as a universal and 
impartial reference for their engineering decisions.  The ASME 
officials also invited Eskom officials to join ASME 
standards-setting decision-making fora and other nuclear related 
committees.  Over the course of the two-hour meeting, ASME convinced 
Eskom that ASME could be a useful partner as South Africa's nuclear 
roll-out is planned and implemented. 
 
PRETORIA 00002401  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) ASME officials also visited the Nuclear Energy Corporation 
of South Africa's (NECSA) Nuclear Training Center north of Pretoria. 
 At this location, ASME had an opportunity to review South Africa's 
premier training facility for nuclear power.  ASME and NECSA then 
initiated a discussion on the possible use of ASME training 
materials and protocols to assist South Africa in its training and 
human capital development.  NECSA seemed particularly interested in 
using ASME training materials associated with welding, pipefitting, 
instrumentation and other generic skills.  If ASME and NECSA were to 
reach agreement on training facilitation, U.S. manufacturers would 
benefit from greater local familiarity with U.S. standards, 
equipment and procedures in the nuclear field. 
 
------------------------ 
Eskom's Decision Delayed 
------------------------ 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Eskom's decision on a preferred bidder for an initial 
tranche of 3,000 MW and a full fleet of 20,000 MW was delayed from 
April to September 2008.  Industry sources indicate that Eskom has 
since requested a further delay in the decision to at least the end 
of the year and Eskom officials continue to publicly state that a 
decision will occur this year.  Eskom had already faced challenges 
in financing its massive new build program to begin to alleviate 
energy supply shortfalls.  Now, political change in South Africa and 
global turmoil in financial markets have heightened the challenge of 
obtaining the necessary financing and choosing the supplier.  South 
Africa's interim government will remain in place until elections 
expected in April/May 2009.  Some observers expect that it would be 
difficult for the interim government to make such an important 
decision.  The local Westinghouse representative assigns slight 
probability for a decision before the end of this year and notes 
that slippage to early 2009 could generate further slippage to after 
the April/May elections. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) COMMENT: Embassy wishes to acknowledge the Commercial 
Counselor's year-long effort to make the ASME event happen.  The 
ASME workshop highlighted the importance of using ASME standards for 
South Africa's budding nuclear industry.  This demonstrated to Eskom 
and the SAG the value of awarding the contract to Westinghouse, 
rather than Areva which uses its own in-house standard. 
 
LALIME