No. 2198/13

The Embassy of the United States of America presents its compliments to
the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of
South Africa and has the honor to forward a letter from President Barack Obama to
His Excellency President Jacob Zuma. The Embassy will subsequently forward a

signed original of this letter.

The Embassy of the United States of America avails itself of this
opportunity to renew to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation

of the Republic of South Africa the assurances of its highest consideration.

Embassy of the United States of America,

Pretoria, December 12, 2013.

 

Enclosure: As stated



The White House
Washington, DC.

December 12, 2013

Dear Mr. President:

I was pleased to receive the invitation from the Prime Minister Mark
Rutte of the Netherlands to attend the third Nuclear Security Summit in The
Hague in March 2014. I look forward to attending the Summit and to the
interactive program our host has designed. I hope to see you there. Since
the historic gatherings in Washington in 2010 and Seoul 2012, we have
taken many encouraging steps to improve the security of nuciear materials
around the world and to strengthen. our individual and collective ability to
prevent nuclear smuggling. At the same time, we are reminded almost daily
of the ongoing threat of terrorism and the necessity to do all we can to avoid
the global catastrophe of a terrorist nuclear attack.

I am working hard on the tasks we established in the Seoul Summit
and I urge you to do the same. You have taken an important step by
ratifying one important legal instrument in this regard, the International
Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, and I
encourage you to ratify the Amended Convention on the Physical Protection

of Nuclear Material and Facilities as well. I also commend you for your
leadership in converting the SAFARI-I research reactor to operate with low
enriched uranium (LEU) fuel and for taking signi?cant steps to convert the
production of medical isotopes in South Africa, such as molybdenum?99
(Mo?99), from utilizing high enriched uranium (PEEU) targets to LEU
targets. Our close cooperation on these activities has helped deepen the
partnership and collaboration between our two countries. To help eliminate
HEU used in this industry and to recognize leadership efforts like yours, I
recently changed the way the United States Government reimburses
treatments that use Mo-99 produced with LEU, in order to effectively
compensate producers like South Africa that are leading the way to eliminate
HEU use in medical isotope production.

As we prepare for The Hague Summit, it is my strong hope that you
will be able to announce there that South Africa will dispose of all of its
remaining spent HEU fuel. The spent HEU fuel could be delivered to the
United States as part of our existing programs, where it would be
downblended to LEU. We also will provide an equivalent amount of LEU
back to you for use in your commercial reactor. This bene?t would help
promote South Africa's LEU-based isotope production and support reliable
supplies of Mo?99 to the US. and European markets. This would also allow
South Africa to avoid the purchase of over 350 kilograms of LEU. During
my visit to South Africa in June, I raised the prospect of our nations working
together on this critical issue in the lead up to the 2014 Summit. To this end,
I have offered to send a small team to South Africa to discuss the details of
such cooperation. The United States has worked with over 40 countries to
remove HEU and plutonium. This HEU minimization goal has been
endorsed at both previous Summits and in the International Atomic Energy
Agency policy forums; it re?ects no judgments on any nation?s security
capabilities, but rather, a global approach to improving nuclear security.

An announcement of South Africa?s commitment to work with the
United States to dispose of spent HEU fuel would certainly be a highlight of
the 2014 Summit, similar in signi?cance to the announcements made by
other prominent countries, such as Ukraine, Mexico, and Sweden, at
previous Summits. It also would build on and enhance South Africa?s
legacy of nuclear leadership. Together, I believe we can take concrete steps
to enhance global nuclear security and make South Africa. the United States,
and the world safer from nuclear terrorism.

I believe we should use The Hague Summit to identify and discuss new
steps we can take together to strengthen nuclear security globally, such as by
joining the collective statement on committing to strengthen nuclear security
implementation through speci?c national actions.

Through our cooperation. we can make the 2014 Summit 3 success and
better protect people around the world from nuclear terrorism.
Sincerely,


Barack Obama