IAEA: SOUTH AFRICA WILLING TO GIVE UP U.S. ORIGIN HEU

UNCLAS UNVIE VIENNA 000056 SENSITIVE SIPDIS PRETORIA FOR ECON-P.BALL, POL-R.BROWN STATE FOR IO/T, ISN/MNSA, ISN/NESS, ISN/RA NA-21 BIENIAWSKI/SHEELY/STAPLES/ILIOPULOS; NA-243-GOOREVICH/BRUNNS; NA-241 O'CONNOR, LAMONTAGNE NRC FOR OIP - HENDERSON, SCHWARTZMAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AORC KNNP IAEA ENRG TRGY SF SUBJECT: IAEA: SOUTH AFRICA WILLING TO GIVE UP U.S. ORIGIN HEU REF: A) STATE 6083 B) PRETORIA 238 ¶1. (SBU) Acting on REFTEL A, Ambassador Schulte passed the USG non-paper on security of nuclear and radiological material to South Africa's IAEA Governor, Ambassador Abdul Minty, on February 4 during a lunch meeting. Ambassador Minty expressed gratitude for the offer and said he was open to cooperation with the U.S. on nuclear security. Ambassador Minty also confirmed that South Africa is ready to give up its U.S. origin HEU. ¶2. (SBU) Ambassador Minty said he was not previously aware that this offer was coming from the USG or that it had been passed in South Africa to his staff. Minty expressed appreciation for the offer directly to him because, at times, information passed to the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) in Pretoria gets "lost." Minty said he was open to cooperation with the U.S. on nuclear security activities. ¶3. (SBU) On a separate issue, Ambassador Schulte asked about the status of the investigation into the Pelindaba break-in. Minty said there still have been no arrests in the case and that South African authorities have worked with the IAEA on a security assessment. He also mentioned that he was unhappy with the "60 Minutes" piece on this subject. ¶4. (SBU) Asked why South Africa was keeping all its weapons-grade HEU, Minty responded that the material is being used for medical isotope production. Ambassador Schulte tasked whether all the HEU will be used for this purpose; Minty said the HEU was under safeguards in South Africa, but he was worried that if transferred to a nuclear weapons state the HEU would not be under IAEA safeguards. Ambassador Schulte said that he understood that several years ago the USG was willing to work with South Africa and industry to reprocess the HEU and bring it back to South Africa for commercial use in a nuclear power plant. Minty said he did not know anything about such a proposal, but volunteered that South Africa is now ready for the USG to take back the U.S.-origin fuel. Ambassador Schulte mentioned that the USG is also offering radiological security support for the 2010 World Cup soccer events. Ambassador Minty thanked Ambassador Schulte for the non-paper and said he would be in touch with South Africa's response. ¶5. (SBU) Comment: It is highly unlikely Minty was unaware of the 2006 discussions on reprocessing the HEU. However, South Africa's stated intention to keep the HEU for other purposes, like medical isotope production, may be partially founded in South African government documents. In the June 2008 publication "Nuclear Energy Policy for South Africa," under "Security of Nuclear Energy Supply" it states "The operation of a nuclear power plant requires fuel which is currently and for the foreseeable future mainly being provided by uranium, and to a lesser extent mixed oxide fuel from reprocessed and recycled irradiated uranium fuel. South Africa therefore has to ensure reliable and sustainable supply of uranium. The country has uranium resources and as such can provide for the needs of its nuclear programme." If this is the case, it begs the question of why the RSA is not down-blending the material to use it for the planned Pebble Bed Reactor (which will operate on LEU) and/or the Safari Reactor for medical isotope production. End Comment. PYATT