The Nuclear Africa 2015 conference has just been successfully concluded. The conference was held in collaboration with the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) at Necsa’s Pelindaba site, near Pretoria.

The theme of the conference was ‘Collective Effort for Implementation’ and was appropriate because the whole new nuclear power build programme has now reached the point where we really need to start moving to the implementation of the build, with specific dates in mind.

A most important speaker at the conference was Yukiya Amano, director- general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
He spoke twice, once in the morning at the conference and then again that evening at dinner. At the dinner, in the presence of President Jacob Zuma and Energy Deputy Minister Thembi Majola, Amano said that South Africans were extremely competent in nuclear matters and that we should just get on with our nuclear programmes.

He gave a glowing account not only of South Africa’s technological capability, but also of South Africa’s total cooperation in the field of nuclear compliance with international regulation and convention.

South Africa recently signed an extended agreement with the IAEA, giving IAEA inspectors the right to turn up in South Africa at any moment, unannounced, and to ask to see any nuclear facility. They will then be shown the facility immediately.

Zuma, in turn, then said that South Africa had a proud record of nuclear technology development and had every intention of moving ahead rapidly with the current nuclear build programme.

Other prominent speakers at the conference included Jean-Jacques Gautrot, chairperson of the World Nuclear Association, based in London, and Bryan Erler, VP of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), which has evolved into a major world-quality standards authority. The ASME has a code division dedicated to nuclear. Any manufacturer gaining the ASME nuclear fabrication accreditation can then export components and assemblies to any nuclear facility worldwide.

So, South African manufacturers have to aim to gain the appropriate ASME standard to open the world as an export market.

The conference covered the whole arena of issues related to the nuclear build. Necsa CEO Phumzile Tshelane pointed out that Necsa was already manufacturing nuclear components to the correct grade and was exporting them. So, the exports have started – we now need to grow them. There is no need to wait for our own reactors to be built before getting into the export of home-grown components.

The environmental manager of Eskom, Deidre Herbst, spoke about how much work had been done to categorise the proposed sites for the new nuclear construction. Potential sites have been drilled to gather information on the geology below ground, meteorological measurements have been taken for years (so that the weather patterns over the areas are really well known) and the fauna and flora have been studied in minute detail. The ocean areas have been examined.

The first site is ready for use. A few legal procedures are left and then we are ready to roll.

Foreign companies from France, China, Russia, the US and others were present, and each presented what it can offer.

An interesting development from Russia was a floating nuclear reactor which can produce about 70 MW. This is a small plant, but it can be floated on major African lakes, bringing instant nuclear power to landlocked countries.

The Nuclear Africa 2015 conference clearly showed the vast potential of nuclear power for Africa, and also indicated that South Africa is ready to start building right now. We need to get going.