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FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7239
INFO RUCPDC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0917
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0668
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0798
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RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1522

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PRETORIA 000215 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS USAID 
STATE PLEASE PASS USGS 
DEPT FOR AF/S, ISN, EEB/ESC AND CBA 
DOE FOR T.SPERL, G.PERSON, A.BIENAWSKI, M.SCOTT, L.PARKER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG EMIN EPET SENV BEXP KNNP SF
SUBJECT: NRC STEPS UP COOPERATION WITH SOUTH AFRICA 
 
REF: A) Pretoria 173 
B) Pretoria 179 
C) 08 Pretoria 2654 
D) Pretoria 103 
E) State 6083 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified.  Not for Internet. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Peter Lyons 
used a January 18-24 familiarization visit to South Africa to visit 
the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) testing facilities and discuss 
its status; augment cooperation with its counterpart the National 
Nuclear Regulator (NNR), and visit nuclear sites in South Africa. 
Commissioner Lyons proposed increased cooperation on security and 
safety with the NNR and NECSA.  PBMR is advancing its pre-licensing 
process with the NNR, aiming for building a demonstration plant at 
Koeberg, near Cape Town.  The Safari Reactor at Pelindaba has made 
remarkable progress in converting from use of highly-enriched 
uranium to low-enriched uranium.  Ref A reported on discussions 
about the Pelindaba security incident and Ref B described Eskom's 
nuclear new build program and Koeberg nuclear power station.  The 
DOE has separately offered assistance in enhancing security at 
nuclear and radiological sites in the run-up to the 2010 FIFA World 
Cup.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------------- 
National Nuclear Regulator 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) acting CEO Guy Clappisson 
hosted a number of meetings for the January 18-24 visit to South 
Africa of his counterpart NRC Commissioner Peter Lyons and Reactors 
Technical Assistant Richard Rasmussen.  Clappisson joined the visit 
to the NNR's Cape Town office and Koeberg nuclear power station. 
Minerals/Energy Officer and/or Specialist accompanied all the 
meetings. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Clappisson told Commissioner Lyons that the NNR regulates 
and licenses Eskom's proposed new nuclear build; Pebble Bed Modular 
Reactor's (PBMR) new design; the Nuclear Energy Company of South 
Africa (NECSA), including its site at Pelindaba, medical 
radioisotope production, and the 20 MW Safari reactor; Northern Cape 
Vaalputs and various waste and storage sites; and uranium mining and 
processing.  He noted that the Department of Health Directorate of 
Radiation Control regulates the storage and use of medical isotopes 
produced at NECSA.  The NNR issues licenses for nuclear plant 
installation and nuclear vessels, subject to public comment.  (NOTE: 
Energy Officer thanked the NNR in Pretoria and Cape Town for the 
timely licensing for the visit of the USS Theodore Roosevelt in Cape 
Town last October.  End Note.)  NNR does not currently regulate 
nuclear security - only safety, but it will assume this 
responsibility after April 1, which will then be comparable to the 
joint responsibilities of the NRC in the U.S.  Clappisson said the 
NNR made a presentation to Eskom on the licensing process, but was 
not formally involved in the now-cancelled tender for 3,000 MW new 
nuclear power plant build (Ref C). 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Clappisson said the NNR has done a lot of work reviewing 
the design of the PBMR as part of its licensing application for a 
demonstration plant at Koeberg.  From a regulatory perspective, PBMR 
Qdemonstration plant at Koeberg.  From a regulatory perspective, PBMR 
still has more technical work to complete and must have a 
customer-licensee to make a formal application to the NNR. 
Clappisson thought that the Multinational Design Evaluation Program 
(MDEP) - the IAEA's effort to promote international collaboration on 
nuclear issues - could be a useful forum to advance the PBMR if a 
third interested country - like China - would step forward to 
justify establishment of a working group.  (Later in the visit, 
Clappisson seemed to contradict this statement, questioning the 
value of the MDEP to advance the PBMR design and licensing.) 
Clappisson said he still had some technical concerns about the 
design; for example, he worried about the issue of dust in the 
reactor, which could have an impact on operation and safety. 
However, he noted that the dust would be less of an issue if an 
indirect cycle was used. 
 
------------------------- 
 
PRETORIA 00000215  002 OF 004 
 
 
Cooperation Opportunities 
------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Clappisson described the value of the existing bilateral 
regulator-to-regulator agreement to share technical information and 
assist with capability building.  NRC Commissioner Lyons offered 
assistance to share its experience with the licensing of the 
Westinghouse AP1000.  The NNR CEO said they would be eager to accept 
this if the AP1000 was ultimately selected for South Africa.  They 
discussed the value in sharing ideas on nuclear skills development 
programs.  Clappisson mentioned programs at Eskom, the Nuclear 
Industry Association of South Africa, and a NECSA program 
established with Areva.  Commissioner Lyons offered to increase 
cooperation and collaboration with the NNR, specifically citing 
security, mentioning the October 2007 incident at Pelindaba (Ref A). 
 Lyons invited the NNR to send a participant to observe 
force-on-force security inspections in the U.S.  He also proposed 
information-sharing on PBMR research and status.  The NNR was 
receptive to both offers.  The DOE has separately offered assistance 
in enhancing security at nuclear and radiological sites in the 
run-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup (Ref E: Embassy recently shared 
the reftel-provided non-paper with DFA, DME, and NECSA.) 
 
--------------------------------------- 
National Energy Company of South Africa 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) NECSA CEO Rob Adam briefed Commissioner Lyons on 
activities at its secure Pelindaba facility one hour west of 
Pretoria.  NECSA hosts the Safari reactor, carries out nuclear fuel 
cycle research and development - including consideration of 
recapturing enrichment capacity, and manufacturing medical 
radioisotopes through its subsidiaries NTP Radioisotopes and Pelchem 
Ltd.  These subsidiaries have fulfilled the SAG's directive to 
convert the Safari research reactor and associated "hot cell" 
facilities to a sound commercial basis.  NECSA is now a significant 
producer of the world's radioisotopes, which are very much in demand 
and subject to limited supply.  NECSA/NTP is the world's third 
largest producer of molybdenum 99, for example, providing up to 20 
percent of the world's supply.  Pelchem produces fluorochemicals, 
thereby beneficiating South Africa's significant fluorspar reserves. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Commissioner Lyons raised concerns about the global use of 
Highly-Enriched Uranium (HEU) in the production of medical 
radioisotopes, noting in addition that Molybdenum-99 and other 
medical products have at times faced worrisome shortages.  He 
admitted that the U.S. had not taken steps to establish its own 
production facilities, so its own demand contributed to the sales of 
HEU across borders.  Adam responded that NECSA's safari reactor is 
actively converting its production to use of Low Enriched Uranium 
(LEU), instead of (HEU).  The SAG Cabinet recently approved 
implementing the proposed feasibility study for the return of 
U.S.-origin spent HEU fuel (Ref D).  DOE-NNSA plans to send a 
technical team in March to advance this important initiative.  NECSA 
Qtechnical team in March to advance this important initiative.  NECSA 
is actively converting the Safari reactor from HEU to LEU in both 
the active fuel and targets.  So far, 16 of 26 fuel rods (62 
percent) have been converted to LEU.  Only LEU fuel will be loaded 
into the reactor as of April.  NECSA is planning total conversion to 
LEU targets within five years.  NECSA officials also pointed out 
that it carefully minimizes and manages shutdowns with other 
producers to assure a secure supply of medical radioisotopes. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Safari Manager Gavin Ball gave Commissioner Lyons a tour 
of the Safari reactor which carries out radioactive processing for 
NTP Radioisotopes and Pelchem.  The 20 MW Safari reactor was 
commissioned in 1965 with U.S. support.  This support was withdrawn 
in 1975 because of the illegal weapons program, compelling Pelindaba 
to eventually become self-sufficient.  Commissioner Lyons and his 
team were able to directly observe the pool reactor's bluish core 
and stored spent fuel.  The Safari facility appeared to exhibit high 
security features, such as its own high, electrified fence. 
 
-------------------------- 
Pebble Bed Modular Reactor 
 
PRETORIA 00000215  003 OF 004 
 
 
-------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) assembled a robust 
team to brief Commissioner Lyons on the state-of-play in PBMR's 
innovative high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor research and design, 
which aims to be the world's first generation IV nuclear reactor. 
PBMR officials described the phased pre-licensing process for a 
110-400 MW power plant with NNR.  They described some of the 
ambiguities and challenges of seeking to license design and 
construction of a radically new design with multiple interested 
agencies on environmental and other issues. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Commissioner Lyons noted that the NRC would only start 
formal licensing of PBMR if there was an actual U.S. project and 
client, which would presumably follow licensing in South Africa, or 
if DOE selected PBMR as the technology of choice for the Next 
Generation Nuclear Plant project.  South Africa, the U.S., and China 
are the strongest supporters of PBMR technology. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) PBMR CEO Jaco Kriek and his team, as well as Eskom's PBMR 
Manager Frikkie Ellis in a separate meeting, described some of 
PBMR's challenges and how it is grappling with fundamental decisions 
on where to go from here.  There is a rising perception that PBMR - 
with its high-temperature gas reactors - could be more quickly 
applied for industrial process applications, instead of its initial 
targeting of power plants, as part of South Africa's and other 
countries' modular, safe nuclear power needs.  PBMR is working with 
coal-to-liquid champion Sasol on this application.  Dow Chemical in 
the U.S. could be another candidate.  PBMR is debating direct versus 
indirect approaches to industrial process applications; in the 
latter, the nuclear island would be separated by a buffer from the 
non-radioactive industrial process.  PBMR is currently evaluating 
design options such as the reactor operating temperature and various 
materials for system components.  PBMR aims to make a decision on 
its initial product configuration by April.  In addition, PBMR is 
still working to finalize a new shareholders agreement between its 
partners (state Industrial Development Corporation and the 
Department of Public Enterprises, Eskom, and Westinghouse). 
 
------------------------------------ 
PBMR Research and Testing Facilities 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Commissioner Lyons spent most of two days touring PBMR 
research and testing facilities at Pelindaba and the North West 
University at Potchefstroom.  At Pelindaba, the team visited the 
Fuel Testing Facility and the Helium Testing Facility.  PBMR has 
succeeded in producing graphite spheres containing thousands of 
coated fuel-bearing kernels.  PBMR is carrying out detailed quality 
control on the spheres from dropping the spheres from a height to 
x-ray analysis.  The helium testing facility provides a 
reactor-scale mock-up for testing of a high-temperature, 
high-pressure helium environment.  The facilities at North West 
University (NWU) include the PBMR micro-model, the high-temperature 
test unit (HTTU), and the high-pressure test unit (HPTU).  The HTTU 
Qtest unit (HTTU), and the high-pressure test unit (HPTU).  The HTTU 
and the HPTU form the heat transfer test facilities used to support 
the safety case for the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR).  PBMR has 
worked with NWU to carry out experimental and computer modelling of 
the developing PBMR system to predict its dynamic behavior.  A 165 
foot-long "micro-model" of the PBMR has been constructed and tested 
using an electric heater to emulate the nuclear reactor and 
off-the-shelf components to serve as compressors, turbine, and heat 
exchangers.  Two large test facilities were constructed to generate 
detailed design information on the high-temperature heat transfer 
and high-pressure flow characteristics of gases in various pebble 
bed configurations, including flows at pebble-wall contact.  NWU 
developed the thermal hydraulic design software known as Flownex to 
simulate the various design functions of the PBMR. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) NRC Commissioner Lyons also visited the Koeberg Nuclear 
Power Plant (Ref B) and the AngloGold Ashanti Moab Khotsong 
gold-uranium mine and adjacent processing facility (septel). 
 
¶14.  (SBU) COMMENT: Commissioner Lyons' visit was helpful in 
advancing bilateral cooperation in nuclear safety and security.  The 
Embassy will work with the NRC to follow up on the identified 
 
PRETORIA 00000215  004 OF 004 
 
 
collaboration opportunities, especially in security, in light of 
existing concern about the 2007 Pelindaba incident.  Although the 
visit was not intended to directly advocate for Westinghouse for the 
evolving post-tender process for new nuclear build in South Africa, 
it nevertheless showed important USG support to South Africa's 
nuclear industry vision. 
 
¶15.  (U) NRC Commissioner Lyons has cleared this cable. 
 
BALL