NUCLEAR AFRICA 2014 Midrand 19 March 2014 Dr Simanga Alex Tsela

1. NUCLEAR AFRICA 2014 Midrand 19 March 2014 Dr Simanga Alex Tsela Mzansi Energy Solutions & Innovation

2. Young Entity since 2010 • Energy including nuclear • Nuclear Academy

3. THE PUBLIC SUPPORT NUCLEAR? When will

4. Was Josh Billings right: “It’s not what we don’t know; its what we know that just ain’t so that is our greatest obstacle”

5. Objective: challenge us to do more public engagement to demystify nuclear power Public broadly refers to non nuclear community: General public; Organised Labour; Politicians; Lobbyists; etc

6. Reality about the strategic role of the public in the South African Context • Public participation is not a nice to have! • Public participation is a legislative imperative in the licensing process of a nuclear installation • Both in EIA & NNR Act • The ideal would be to raise sufficient public understanding to make the licensing process easier • Its either we engage the public in our own terms or we will have to engage them in regulatory terms!

7. Lesson from PBMR Success does not consist in never making blunders, but in never making the same one a second time • If PBMR had already started construction, the decision in 2010 would have been different • One contributor that prevented the start of construction was a public challenge that went wrong Construction license was subjected to EIA • EIA process started in 1999, eventually a positive RoD was granted by DEAT in June 2003 • In 2004 the RoD was challenged by a lobbyist group & in January 2005 the high court overturned it • Understanding the public dynamics wrt the legislative process would have assisted greatly!

8. Two observations that drives the call to more public engagement

9. 1st observation is a disconnect in perspective: Perspective from nuclear industry: We have glowing statistics of the performance of nuclear power plants Perspective from certain sectors of the public: the glowing statistics are not fully appreciation This disconnect demands more public education, to make the good story understood!

11. 2nd Observation: reality of technology Reality of technology: Every technology has both a smiley & ugly face; so is every source of energy Public response: how clear does the public see the smiley face of nuclear compared to the ugly face How do we get a paradigm shift of the public from the 1st impression of the atomic energy, to the positive impact of the energy. • The public still has fear that we know is technically not founded

12. Hence we should ask a different set of questions; to create a different public engagement approach! • Is it about nuclear or about us (PT)? • Do we appreciate the significant role of the public for the nuclear roll out provided by legislation? • Which sector of public holds the greatest influence? • Have we been effective in convincing our leaders (PT)? • Does the public trust us that we want nuclear for public good or our profitability? • Have we been convincing to decision makers that it is safe to move on, can they trust us to roll it out? • What are the key dynamics that we need to understand as we aggressively engage the public?

13. My thesis for public support for any technology! When the benefits are understood, people do take risks!

14. 2 key dynamics in bringing about public understanding • Every sector of the public is driven by its own self interest • Strategic role of the various media tools, as the source of public consumption

15. Self-interest based on need & perspective • Very much like the story of blind people describing an elephant (spear, wall, rope, snake, etc)

16. Examples of how the self interests plays out • The unionized public wants to secure jobs, they will bargain about anything & in anyway • The lobbyists will spend every cent to make enough noise to either delay or sabotage the program to please their funders • The politician is concerned about winning the next election more that a particular program • The general public wants service delivery at any cost • The industry wants to grow their bottom line from any project they can find They exert their influence @ different stages of the process Public engagement is more than just brochures, but extensive strategies to give something to each

17. The strategic role of media Consider an example to us as nuclear industry from the aviation community!

18. The role of media matters in shaping public opinion! Both accidents happened in 2013; which one did you hear about? St Franscisco Namibia, Mozambique airline Asian airline

19. The role of media matters in shaping public opinion! In both accidents people died, which one was reported to us as a major accident? 370 aboard, 3 died 33 aboard all died

20. Reality is that people tend to believe based on the information they get! What they believe is influenced by many things including but not limited to: • What gets told to them • Who tells the news • How the news gets told • Sometimes regardless of what the facts are! The public will support nuclear when there is sufficient demystification of nuclear to make the benefit understood

21. When benefits are clarified & made attractive, people are more than willing to take the risk Is Nuclear Unclear!... NO…but the Nuclear Industry has to do more …to make it clear…! The challenge to all of us is: • Customisation…to respond to diverse self interest…in a language they understand…demonstrating the benefit to each • People would rather remain with a problem than taking a solution they don’t understand or fear!

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