VZCZCXRO6873
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHSA #2395/01 3280624
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240624Z NOV 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0320
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1046
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 1407
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0894
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0854
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1657
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 0542
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1314
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0339

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 002395 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR ISN, AF/S, EEB/ESC AND CBA 
DOE FOR TSPERL, GPERSON, MSCOTT, ABIENAWSKI 
DOC FOR ITA/DIEMOND 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG PREL MNUC KNNP EMIN ETRD TRGY TBIO SF
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR JENKINS DISCUSSES MOLYDENUM-99 WITH 
SOUTH AFRICA'S NECSA 
 
REF: STATE 113758 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins met with Nuclear 
Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA) Chief Executive 
Officer Rob Adam on November 10.  They discussed the Nuclear 
Security Summit, the bilateral agreement on cooperation in 
nuclear energy R&D, and cooperation on production of medical 
radioisotope molybdenum 99.  Adam expressed a commitment to 
increasing production of Low Enriched Uranium-based moly-99 
production and asked if the USG would remain committed to 
purchasing NECSA production when Canadian HEU-based 
production came back on line.  Action request at paragraph 8. 
 End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) NUCLEAR SECURITY SUMMIT: Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins 
met with Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA) 
CEO Rob Adam on November 10.  She provided some information 
on the Nuclear Security Summit.  Ambassador Jenkins noted the 
Summit was a start on President Obama's four-year effort to 
secure all vulnerable nuclear materials. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) VISIT TO PELINDABA: Ambassador Jenkins noted the 
reqeust from the USG to hold consultations under the 
bilateral peacful uses of nuclear energy "123" agreement at 
the Pelindaba Nuclear Facility operated by NECSA.  Adam said 
the SAG would have the lead on this request; he said NECSA is 
an implementer, under the SAG direction.  Ambassador Jenkins 
reiterated the USG invitation to the SAG to visit nuclear 
facilities in the U.S., now targeted for first quarter 2010. 
Adam expressed interest in participating. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) REGIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY TRAINING CENTER: 
Ambassador Jenkins expressed support for a regional nuclear 
security training center in South Africa as a way to augment 
bilateral and trilateral cooperation, an idea broached at the 
Einhorn-Minty nuclear security dialogue in August.  Adam said 
the idea was interesting, but wondered how it would work. 
Ambassador Jenkins proposed that there be a working group to 
discuss implementation.  Adam worried about too many working 
groups and not enough action.  Ambassador Jenkins agreed that 
action is key. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) NUCLEAR R&D AGREEMENT: Ambassador Jenkins said the 
signing of the bilateral nuclear R&D agreement in Vienna in 
September had been an important positive step and asked Adam 
for his views on it.  Adam called for both governments to 
"sweeten the pot", providing seed money and letting 
scientists begin to cooperate.  He noted that the Pebble Bed 
Modular Reactor is a key tenant at NECSA-Pelindaba with its 
helium and fuel testing facilities. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) MOLYBDENUM 99: Ambassador Jenkins thanked NECSA for 
ramping up molybdenum-99 production to help cover the global 
shortfall of this key medical radioisotope used for cancer 
diagnostics and treatment.  She expressed awareness of the 
successful bilateral discussions in Vienna on cooperation. 
In addition, Ambassador Jenkins delivered a copy of the 
reftel letter from the President's Science Advisor thanking 
the SAG for assuring increased availability of moly-99 to the 
Qthe SAG for assuring increased availability of moly-99 to the 
market (Post also transmitted the letter to the Minister of 
Energy.)  Adam said 30 percent of NECSA's production went to 
the U.S., compared to zero before the problems with the 
Canadian facility.  He said NECSA saw moly-99 as good 
business and was pursuing full conversion to LEU-based 
production because it was the right thing to do from both 
non-proliferation and commercial perspectives.  Adam said 
that governments had traditionally over-subsidized moly-99 
production.  He called for removing the distortions in the 
market, noting that the global shortfall was making prices 
more realistic and commercial.  Adam envisioned investing 
with a joint venture partner in the U.S. to produce for the 
U.S. market, because distance was a challenge for the short 
half-life product.  He asked Ambassador Jenkins whether the 
USG would commit to buying NECSA's LEU-based product, even 
when the Canadian HEU-based product came back on line. 
 
PRETORIA 00002395  002 OF 002 
 
 
Ambassador Jenkins noted that she understood his request and 
said she would take it back to Washington. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) USDOE participants also broached cooperation 
imminent and underway in Megaports and Commodity 
Identification Training, respectively.  Michael Stafford 
presented the proposal for enhancing cooperation through the 
Nuclear Smuggling Outreach Initiative to prevent, detect, and 
respond to nuclear smuggling attempts.  Stafford highlighted 
U.S. interest in cooperating on response to smuggling 
incidents, given NECSA's role as the national authority on 
response planning. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST: Post asks USDOE and the 
Department to respond to NECSA's question about the USG's 
commitment to NECSA's LEU-based product for the longer term, 
as it plays a leading role in conversion from HEU to LEU and 
makes investments to meet the current global shortfall and 
future market opportunities, including in the U.S. 
 
¶9.  (U) This cable was cleared by Ambassador Jenkins. 
 
GIPS