The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) is seeking to strengthen South Africa’s skills base and help develop a local nuclear manufacturing capability. “Part of our mandate is to implement skills development,” points out Necsa CEO Phumzile Tshelane. “We have our Nuclear Skills Development Centre [at Pelindaba]. We’re producing exceptional artisans – boilermakers, electricians, welders – instrument technicians and even security guards for national key points. The centre is externally focused, offering high-quality training to the public and private sectors.”

Regarding its own personnel, Necsa currently employs just under 2 000 people. (A planned retrenchment programme has been terminated – see Engineering News August 16, 2013.) About 600 of these are technically highly skilled, including engineers, while another 55 are scientists in the corporation’s research and development division.

Nuclear manufacturing is another aspect of Necsa. “Where we have a manufacturing capability, we have been certified by ASME – ASME III and ASME VIII,” he highlights.

Founded in the US in 1880, the name ASME originally stood for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, although this full title is no longer used as it has become an international body with 392 staff and more than 130 000 members in 158 countries. A not-for-profit organisation, its mission is to “serve our diverse global communities by advancing, disseminating and applying engineering knowledge for improving the quality of life and communicating the excitement of engineering”.

Among other things, ASME facilitates collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and skills development in all engineering disciplines. It is famous for its quality codes and standards, accreditations and certifications. Indeed, it is the world’s leading developer of codes and standards for mechanical engineering. Its first standard (Code for Conduct of Trials of Steam Boilers) was issued in 1884 and its full code (Rules for the Construction of Stationary Boilers and for Allowable Working Pressure) in 1914. There are now almost 600 ASME codes and standards in print.

The term ASME III refers to Section III of the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC). The BPVC is the direct descendent of the original 1914 ASME code and today is an international code comprising 28 books and 14 000 pages. Section III covers the manufacture of pressure vessels and other key systems for nuclear facilities, including reactor pressure vessels, steam generators, reactor coolant pumps and pipes, containment vessels and various support structures, among many other things. Section III was originally published 50 years ago, in 1963. ASME VIII is Section VIII of the BPVC, covering the design, manufacture, testing certification and inspection of non-nuclear pressure vessels, including such components as safety valves, which are subject to internal or external pressures of one bar or more.

“We’ve also been accredited by companies like Westinghouse and Kepco (Korean Electric Power Corporation) to supply them with components for their fuel assemblies,” reports Tshelane. “We are processing an order from Kepco at the moment for fuel components. We are now entering the international supply chain for nuclear-grade components.”

Necsa’s nuclear manufacturing activities are designated Pelindaba Manufacturing, which currently falls directly under the corporation’s head office and does not have the status of a subsidiary company. “It needs to grow a bit to show it can stand by itself, before it can become a subsidiary,” he explains.

Currently, Necsa has two subsidiary companies, NTP Radioisotopes (NTP), which produces mainly – but not only – the molybdenum-99 radioisotope (which it exports to more than 60 countries) and fluorine-based chemicals maker Pelchem, which exports to more than 20 countries. Of Necsa’s some 2 000 employees, about 440 are with NTP and 160 with Pelchem.