B Sonjica: South Africa statement at International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) General Conference

17 September 2007

President
Director General
Your Excellencies
Distinguished delegates

Allow me, Mr President to add my country's voice in congratulating you for
the assumption of your role as President of the General Conference. It is
indeed a great honour for my country to be part of this conference on the 50th
anniversary of the Agency. The Agency's role in assisting member states is
widely recognised and has been beneficial to many countries in achieving
self-reliance in various nuclear applications. South Africa is a recipient of
the Agency’s support and we have built on it to achieve our own self-reliance
on some aspects. In the last 50 years the Agency has worked well to ensure that
the use of nuclear energy is only for peaceful purposes and around the world
people have realised that nuclear energy can be a part of a solution to combat
green house gas emissions and ensure security of energy supply.

Mr President,

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the new members
to the agency: Bahrain, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Cape Verde and Nepal. It is
always encouraging to note that the representation of the African continent to
the agency is increasing which demonstrates that the role of nuclear technology
on the African continent is growing. Indeed the benefits derived from the
Agency's Technical Co-operation programmes bear testimony to the relevance of
nuclear applications in solving some of the challenges of developing
countries.

Whilst the agency plays an important role in promoting and facilitating
co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, it is also the sole
internationally recognised authority responsible for verifying that these
activities are not diverted for non-peaceful purposes. In this context, the
agency continues to monitor the implementation of safeguards agreements and in
providing the necessary assurances regarding the compliance of States to these
agreements.

With regard to the nuclear programme of the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea's (DPRK), South Africa welcomes the positive developments towards finding
a lasting solution, including the Initial Actions agreed to during the
Six-Party Talks earlier this year. In particular, we welcome the ad hoc
monitoring and verification arrangement that is being implemented by the Agency
with the co-operation of the DPRK. We, however, remain concerned that the
agency is still unable to draw any conclusions regarding the DPRK's nuclear
activities. It is our hope that the DPRK will return to the Non-Proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), eliminate all its nuclear weapons and place all its
material and facilities under IAEA Safeguards.

With regard to the implementation of NPT safeguards in the Islamic Republic
of Iran, South Africa notes that the agency continues to be able to verify the
non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran. South Africa is further
pleased to note that Iran has been providing the agency with access to declared
nuclear material, including providing the required nuclear material accountancy
reports in connection with the declared nuclear material and facilities. It is
further noteworthy that important progress has been made to resolve some of the
outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear programme.

Through the full implementation of the agreed work plan between the Agency
and Iran and in accordance with the time lines set out therein, the necessary
confidence will be created that could spark the resumption of negotiations
between Iran and all concerned parties. This would avoid a confrontation, which
no one desires and which would have catastrophic consequences for all.

We believe that the Director General, through his wise and innovative
leadership, has placed us on a path of resolving in a peaceful way the issues
surrounding Iran’s nuclear programme.

Mr President,

South Africa is a proponent of nuclear disarmament and a supporter of a
nuclear weapon-free world. There is no doubt that the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is vital to achieve nuclear
disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation. It still remains the only
international instrument that not only seeks to prevent the proliferation of
nuclear weapons, but that also contains the legal commitment for their
elimination. In this regard, it represents a historical bargain between the
nuclear-weapon States and the non-nuclear-weapon States in terms of which the
latter have undertaken not to aspire to nuclear weapons based upon the
reciprocal undertaking by the former to eliminate their nuclear weapons. It is
obvious that the only absolute guarantee against the use of such weapons is
their complete elimination and the assurance that they will never be produced
again.

As long as some countries have nuclear weapons, there will be others who
will also aspire to possess them. South Africa believes that the continued
possession of nuclear weapons, or the retention of the nuclear weapons option
by some States, creates the very real danger that they may be used, or fall
into the hands of non-State actors.

Mr President,

Turning to the issue of nuclear fuel supply, we need to recognise that the
pursuance of energy security is not only a right of all states, but also a
global responsibility. But we need to ensure that no unwarranted restrictions
are imposed on the right of States to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful
purposes. Further modalities for preventing the diversion of these sensitive
technologies may be required in order to ensure that we can pursue such
activities with the necessary assurances. We strongly support a
non-discriminatory approach that would assure the supply of nuclear fuel,
whilst fully respecting the choices of States and protecting their inalienable
right to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, consistent with their
non-proliferation obligations.

The South African government supports the development of nuclear energy and
recently a Draft Nuclear Energy Policy and Strategy for the Republic of South
Africa was approved by Cabinet and released to the public for comment. The
Nuclear Energy Policy and Strategy provides a framework in which an extensive
nuclear programme can be realised in South Africa. Our policy is driven by
issues of security of energy supply and global climate change as well as
beneficiation of our strategic mineral resources for the economic development
of our country. The resurgence in the use of nuclear energy for electricity
production is strong and many countries, including South Africa, have realised
the need to diversify their energy mix to ensure security of supply and to
maintain their economies.

Mr President,

South Africa is facing an increase in electricity demand and measures are
being taken to ensure that there is no shortfall. It has been projected that an
additional 40 000 Megawatts of electricity will be required over the next 20
years in South Africa. Currently about 90% of South Africa's electricity is
generated from coal and about 6% from nuclear. The South African electricity
utility, Eskom is investigating the expansion of the utility’s nuclear power
capacity. These investigations are aimed at a potential increase of nuclear
capacity to 20 000 Megawatts by 2025. Eskom is in the initial phase of the
investigation and is considering advanced Pressurised Water Reactors with a
combined capacity of around 3500 Megawatts. Initial processes of acquiring
environmental authorisations have commenced and negotiations with vendors are
expected to start in earnest in the next six months. A number of sites are
currently undergoing qualification. Other authorisations such as applications
to obtain a nuclear installation licenses with the South African National
Nuclear Regulator (NNR) will follow at a later stage.

The high temperature pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) technology is under
development by PBMR (Pty) Ltd, with the intention to construct a 165 Megawatt
electric demonstration nuclear reactor system on the Koeberg site near Cape
Town and a Fuel plant at Pelindaba near Pretoria. The process of obtaining the
required environmental and nuclear licensing authorisations is in progress. The
PBMR technology is not only focused on electricity production but also on
process heat applications for industrial applications.

PBMR currently employs over 750 people and has completed five test
facilities related to fuel production and reactor auxiliary services, including
the fuel handling system.

Mr President,

South Africa will continue to support and participate in IAEA initiatives
and activities. South Africa and the IAEA have signed the Country Programme
Framework for the period of 2006 to 2010, building on the successful
implementation of the first CPF. We are therefore looking forward to continued
fruitful cooperation between South Africa and the Agency in the years to
come.

South Africa also contributes regularly to the Technical Co-operation
programme and South African experts continue to carry out missions in Members
States to meet the important needs of those states. The completion and
demonstration of the conditioning unit for sealed high activity radioactive
sources (SHARS) by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) in
March 2007 was a great success. The unit was designed to remove high activity
sources, which are mostly used in the health care industry. The SHARS project
is unique in that it represented the development of a mobile hot cell for the
first time.

I must also take this opportunity to inform members that in partnership with
the Agency, South Africa will be hosting a Regional Conference on Energy and
Water for Sustainable Development highlighting the role of nuclear science and
technology during the second quarter of 2008. This conference is expected to
attract about 200 delegates from 38 African Members States. The conference will
focus on how nuclear technology can be a solution to address challenges we are
facing in the energy and water sectors. We look forward to the participation of
Agency member states in ensuring the success of this important conference.

In terms of nuclear skills development South Africa hosted a number of
workshops and training courses. The South African Institute of Welding (SAIW)
was nominated by AFRA to establish a Level III training and accreditation
capacity in South Africa. Several Member States have undergone training at the
SAIW. Another important event was the Post Graduate Educational Course (PGEC)
in radiation at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. South
Africa is grateful for the IAEA's continued support in building capacity. South
Africa also hosted the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize Cancer Fund special event
in Cape Town in December 2006.

On the commercial side the Necsa subsidiary NTP Radioisotopes continues to
supply a significant portion of the international demand for Molybdenum-99 as
well as a range of other nuclear medicine products.

Mr President,

In the previous General Conference, I mentioned that the South African
Nuclear Regulator would be engaging their counterparts to consider the
establishment of a Regional Regulatory Forum on radiation safety. Since then
the IAEA has been requested to assist in the establishment of the forum. South
Africa through the NNR hosted an International Workshop on 'a Common Framework
for the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal' in July 2007. The
workshop was well attended with participants from 39 countries.

Mr President,

South Africa is committed to the use of IAEA Safety Standards as a benchmark
in the implementation of our regulatory mandate and supports the IAEA
initiative related to the rationalisation and harmonisation of the suite of
IAEA safety standards. South Africa would like to recommend a greater
harmonisation between the requirements related to safety and those related to
security as these requirements are interdependent in many cases. With regard to
Security, we have in the last year had two visits by the Agency's Nuclear
Security division. This included interaction with all state role-players that
are involved in monitoring exports and imports and a clear programme aimed at
strengthening nuclear security with special emphasis on border control was
developed. An illicit trafficking workshop for the region was also hosted by
the Agency with a view of further strengthening controls over movement of
nuclear material.

Mr President,

I need to encourage the Secretariat to work tirelessly in ensuring that
representation of developing countries is improved. South Africa remains
committed to encourage our young people to join and participate in the Agency
activities. The employment of greater numbers of women on professional posts
should continue receiving special attention. In South Africa we have managed to
achieve gender parity in the enrolment of students into the nuclear engineering
and technology programmes. This should create the necessary pipeline from which
we can draw resources in future.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the Agency for its support not only to
South Africa but also to other developing countries.

Thank you

Issued by: Department of Minerals and Energy
17 September 2007