Our government has enlisted the aid of a brand consultant to give the image of nuclear power in SA a major makeover.

Rephrased: you're being sold a PR pitch about nuclear in SA.

Led by the department of public enterprises, the government is using taxpayers’ funds to create a perception of acceptability for the nuclear programme as a means of bypassing public participation processes.

They have hired the services of brand consultants Freedthinkers, which calls itself a "research and development think-tank".

Freedthinkers has begun conducting interviews with a range of people... in organisations including the business sector, large corporations, and NGOs.

According to the guide that Freedthinkers provided for its interviewers, the objective of the project was to "unearth the perceptions, misperceptions, fears and expectations surrounding nuclear power and related issues".

It also aims to "explore the prompts that will help thought-leaders and communities adopt more informed and balanced opinions", and "reveal the preferred touch points for different stakeholders".

Interviewees are told their input will shape a communications strategy "that is intended to help South Africans be clear and informed about all the relevant aspects of the nuclear programme in a truthful, balanced, and fair manner".[the times]

But according to Professor Dieter Holm, world renowned expert on energy efficient building design, there are no myths that need busting. There are, instead, some very real problems with nuclear energy:

"The authorities see nuclear power as the solution to our energy problems, but we don't even have a solution to the problem of nuclear waste and the problem of security is a real concern. Meanwhile nuclear energy is providing only 4 % of our electricity but we are spending 23% of our energy costs on nuclear energy, and 90 % of these costs on research and development!

"The government refuses to spend even just a quarter of the money that's being spent on the Pebble Bed Reactor on renewable energy. This sort of thing is going to cost us dearly!

There's a race on internationally to develop the technologies to create sustainable energy, and the winners will have world markets on a plate!" [madibeng pulse]

Coordinator of the anti-nuclear Pelindaba Working Group Dominique Gilbert, one of those approached by Freedthinkers, said she believed the initiative (by the government) was more sinister than just a branding exercise.

It should be seen in the light of Cabinet’s approval last month of a nuclear master plan, after what the department of minerals and energy claimed were predominantly pro-nuclear submissions - which activists noted were not made public.

Those for nuclear:

• economically competitive
• reliable
• clean technology in a world increasingly concerned with the effects of global warming

Those against nuclear:

• unsafe
• hugely expensive
• provides poor returns on the energy used to establish plants
• money sunk into new plants could be better used on developing renewable energy

What’s the alternative to nuclear?

According to Mike Kantey, National Chairperson of CANE (coalition against nuclear energy):

“As a largely "Third-World" country with a massive and growing Gini Co-efficient [wiki], we cannot afford to expand our nuclear industry without a negative impact on safety & security, the threat of proliferation, an unsustainable job-creation agenda, and an unacceptable legacy of high-level nuclear waste, with or without reprocessing (a notoriously expensive and messy business).

Cheaper long-term and sustainable alternatives do exist:

1. Wave power (Cape Columbine to Cape Agulhas): available from Stellenbosch University

2. Concentrated Solar Thermal: available now in the Northern Cape and Great Karoo

3, Wind power: available now along the West Coast, Eastern Cape coast and around Beaufort West.

4. Cleaner coal with carbon offsets: available now in Botswana, Mpumalanga and Northern KZN

5. Combined Cycle Gas Technology: needs pipeline from offshore gas fields at Kudu, Ibhubesi and other reserves: already installed at Ankerlig and Gouriqua

6. Energy Efficiency and Passive design: can save 50% of existing consumption, now called "NEGAWATTS" and the cheapest alternative to new power station build.

Educate yourself – find out more about nuclear energy.