Our dream for South Africa is of an open opportunity society in which every person is free, secure and equal, where everyone has the opportunity to improve the quality of his life and pursue her dreams, and in which every language and culture has equal respect and recognition.

This is the dream we will deliver – the South African dream of one nation, with one future, living together under the constitution in peace, security and prosperity, with opportunity and recognition for all the rainbow people.

The three components of the Open Opportunity Society for All

The term “Open Opportunity Society for All” brings together three key concepts:–

1. Individual freedom under the rule of law – an open society;
2. Opportunity with responsibility – an opportunity society; and
3. Full equality for all.

In doing so, it creates a fourth concept that underpins our vision of the proper relationship between individuals, the state and society in South Africa today. Our vision is grounded in the idea that every human being has a right to dignity. Human dignity is the foundational concept that informs our values and vision.

The open society

The two key ideas that unite all the elements of an open society are the related ideas of individual freedom and the limitation of state power. They are related because an extension of state power necessitates a limitation of individual freedom and vice versa.

In protecting and promoting an open society in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance must identify and oppose attempts to limit the space for individual freedom and actively promote the extension of such space.

The opportunity society

In an opportunity society, your path in life is not determined by the circumstances of your birth, including both your material and “demographic” circumstances, but rather by your talents and by your efforts. That is why, in an opportunity society, a child born in poverty should nevertheless be able to become a brain surgeon, provided he or she has the talent and puts in the effort required to succeed.

Both civil society and the state have a role to play in creating opportunity for citizens, while individuals have a responsibility to make use of the opportunities on offer.

The society with a place for all its people

The final concept is the idea that South Africa is “for all”, or as Nelson Mandela famously said, “belongs to all who live in it, both black and white.”

There is a long history of racial and ethnic division in South Africa; of racist discrimination; of racial suspicion and competition.

In order to transcend this past, and usher in an era in which people are judged by their character, their effort and their contribution – and not by their race – we believe that attitude and policy should be based on the following: 

• An absolute rejection of discrimination on grounds of race and other characteristics of birth.
• A clear acknowledgement that there is a long history of racial discrimination and oppression in South Africa, that it was wrong and that positive action is now required to make it right. That positive action must be targeted at individuals who still suffer the effects of discrimination, not at groups. It must provide opportunity to the disadvantaged without shutting off opportunity to the advantaged.
• A clear acknowledgement that all South Africans are legitimate and enjoy full moral equality – that is what it means to say South Africa “belongs” to all who live in it.
• The active protection and promotion of the language and culture of all South Africans.

The proper relationship between the state and the individual in an Open Opportunity Society for All

In acting to extend opportunity to all, the state must ensure that it does not compromise the freedom of the individual. To do so would be to shut down the open society. On the other hand, to neglect those without the wherewithal to direct their own lives in the name of freedom is to shut down the opportunity society.

Therefore, in an opportunity society that also values individual freedom, the state’s role must be to facilitate, not direct the activity of citizens. If it provides services, it must seek to expand choice, not determine choices; it must not simply “deliver” to a passive citizenry, which takes what it is lucky enough to get, but must allow the citizenry to determine which opportunities it requires; it must encourage independence, not dependence.

In other words, the free, independent, active individual is at the heart of the opportunity society, both in determining the opportunities required and in taking advantage of them.

Conclusion

The DA’s vision for South Africa is achievable. Our cause is to promote it and, through winning support for it, to put it into action.

Where we govern, such as in the City of Cape Town and other municipalities throughout the country, we are already putting it into practice. We have created more economic opportunities, accelerated service delivery and cut crime. We are helping to improve people’s lives

We believe our vision is compelling, harnessing all that is best in human kind, grounded in a rightly optimistic view of our capacity to live well together, and to succeed.

As one nation, with one future.

PLEDGE CANIDATE WARD 96 – WYK 96  (Click to View)

What is uranium? How does it work?

Uranium is a very heavy metal which can be used as an abundant source of concentrated energy.
Uranium occurs in most rocks in concentrations of 2 to 4 parts per million and is as common in the Earth’s crust as tin, tungsten and molybdenum. Uranium occurs in seawater, and can be recovered from the oceans.
Uranium was discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth, a German chemist, in the mineral called pitchblende. It was named after the planet Uranus, which had been discovered eight years earlier.
Uranium was apparently formed in supernova about 6.6 billion years ago. While it is not common in the solar system, today its slow radioactive decay provides the main source of heat inside the Earth, causing convection and continental drift.
The high density of uranium means that it also finds uses in the keels of yachts and as counterweights for aircraft control surfaces, as well as for radiation shielding.
Uranium has a melting point is 1132°C. The chemical symbol for uranium is U.
The Uranium Atom
On a scale arranged according to the increasing mass of their nuclei, uranium is the heaviest of all the naturally-occurring elements (Hydrogen is the lightest). Uranium is 18.7 times as dense as water.

Like other elements, uranium occurs in several slightly differing forms known as ‘isotopes’. These isotopes differ from each other in the number of uncharged particles (neutrons) in the nucleus. Natural uranium as found in the Earth’s crust is a mixture largely of two isotopes: uranium-238 (U-238), accounting for 99.3% and uranium-235 (U-235) about 0.7%.

The isotope U-235 is important because under certain conditions it can readily be split, yielding a lot of energy. It is therefore said to be ‘fissile’ and we use the expression ‘nuclear fission’.

Meanwhile, like all radioactive isotopes, they decay. U-238 decays very slowly, its half-life being about the same as the age of the Earth (4500 million years). This means that it is barely radioactive, less so than many other isotopes in rocks and sand. Nevertheless it generates 0.1 watts/tonne as decay heat and this is enough to warm the Earth’s core. U-235 decays slightly faster.

Energy from the uranium atom
The nucleus of the U-235 atom comprises 92 protons and 143 neutrons (92 + 143 = 235). When the nucleus of a U-235 atom captures a moving neutron it splits in two (fissions) and releases some energy in the form of heat, also two or three additional neutrons are thrown off. If enough of these expelled neutrons cause the nuclei of other U-235 atoms to split, releasing further neutrons, a fission ‘chain reaction’ can be achieved. When this happens over and over again, many millions of times, a very large amount of heat is produced from a relatively small amount of uranium.

It is this process, in effect “burning” uranium, which occurs in a nuclear reactor. The heat is used to make steam to produce electricity.

Nuclear power stations and fossil-fuelled power stations of similar capacity have many features in common. Both require heat to produce steam to drive turbines and generators. In a nuclear power station, however, the fissioning of uranium atoms replaces the burning of coal or gas.
Inside the reactor
In a nuclear reactor the uranium fuel is assembled in such a way that a controlled fission chain reaction can be achieved. The heat created by splitting the U-235 atoms is then used to make steam which spins a turbine to drive a generator, producing electricity.

The chain reaction that takes place in the core of a nuclear reactor is controlled by rods which absorb neutrons and which can be inserted or withdrawn to set the reactor at the required power level.

The fuel elements are surrounded by a substance called a moderator to slow the speed of the emitted neutrons and thus enable the chain reaction to continue. Water, graphite and heavy water are used as moderators in different types of reactors.

Because of the kind of fuel used (ie the concentration of U-235, see below), if there is a major uncorrected malfunction in a reactor the fuel may overheat and melt, but it cannot explode like a bomb.

A typical 1000 megawatt (MWe) reactor can provide enough electricity for a modern city of up to one million people.

Uranium and Plutonium
Whereas the U-235 nucleus is ‘fissile’, that of U-238 is said to be ‘fertile’. This means that it can capture one of the neutrons which are flying about in the core of the reactor and become (indirectly) plutonium-239, which is fissile. Pu-239 is very much like U-235, in that it fissions when hit by a neutron and this also yields a lot of energy.

Because there is so much U-238 in a reactor core (most of the fuel), these reactions occur frequently, and in fact about one third of the fuel’s energy yield comes from “burning” Pu-239.

But sometimes a Pu-239 atom simply captures a neutron without splitting, and it becomes Pu-240. Because the Pu-239 is either progressively “burned” or becomes Pu-240, the longer the fuel stays in the reactor the more Pu-240 is in it. (The significance of this is that when the spent fuel is removed after about three years, the plutonium in it is not suitable for making weapons but can be recycled as fuel.)

From uranium ore to reactor fuel

Uranium ore can be mined by underground or open-cut methods, depending on its depth. After mining, the ore is crushed and ground up. Then it is treated with acid to dissolve the uranium, which is recovered from solution.

Uranium may also be mined by in situ leaching (ISL), where it is dissolved from a porous underground ore body in situ and pumped to the surface.

The end product of the mining and milling stages, or of ISL, is uranium oxide concentrate (U3O8). This is the form in which uranium is sold.

Before it can be used in a reactor for electricity generation, however, it must undergo a series of processes to produce a useable fuel.

For most of the world’s reactors, the next step in making the fuel is to convert the uranium oxide into a gas, uranium hexafluoride (UF6), which enables it to be enriched. Enrichment increases the proportion of the uranium-235 isotope from its natural level of 0.7% to 4 – 5%. This enables greater technical efficiency in reactor design and operation, particularly in larger reactors, and allows the use of ordinary water as a moderator.

After enrichment, the UF6 gas is converted to uranium dioxide (UO2) which is formed into fuel pellets. These fuel pellets are placed inside thin metal tubes which are assembled in bundles to become the fuel elements or assemblies for the core of the reactor.

For reactors which use natural uranium as their fuel (and hence which require graphite or heavy water as a moderator) the U3O8 concentrate simply needs to be refined and converted directly to uranium dioxide.

When the uranium fuel has been in the reactor for about three years, the used fuel is removed, stored, and then either reprocessed or disposed of underground (see Nuclear Fuel Cycle or Radioactive Waste Management in this series).

Who uses nuclear power?
Over 14% of the world’s electricity is generated from uranium in nuclear reactors. This amounts to over 2500 billion kWh each year, as much as from all sources of electricity worldwide in 1960.

It comes from some 440 nuclear reactors with a total output capacity of about 377 000 megawatts (MWe) operating in 30 countries. Over 60 more reactors are under construction and another 150 are planned.

Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine all get 30% or more of their electricity from nuclear reactors. The USA has over 100 reactors operating, supplying 20% of its electricity. France gets three quarters of its electricity from uranium.

See also Table of the World’s Nuclear Power Reactors

Who has and who mines uranium?
Uranium is widespread in many rocks, and even in seawater. However, like other metals, it is seldom sufficiently concentrated to be economically recoverable. Where it is, we speak of an orebody. In defining what is ore, assumptions are made about the cost of mining and the market price of the metal. Uranium reserves are therefore calculated as tonnes recoverable up to a certain cost.

Australia’s reasonably assured resources and inferred resources of uranium are 1,673,000 tonnes of uranium recoverable at up to US$130/kg U (well under the market ‘spot’ price), Kazakhstan’s are 651,000 tonnes of uranium and Canada’s are 485,000 tU. Australia’s resources in this category are almost one third of the world’s total, Kazakhstan’s are 12%, Canada’s 9%.

Several countries have significant uranium resources. Apart from the top three, they are in order: Russia, South Africa, Namibia, Brazil, Niger, USA, China, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and India. Other countries have smaller deposits which could be mined if needed.

Kazakhstan is the world’s top uranium producer, followed by Canada and then Australia as the main suppliers of uranium to world markets – now over 50,000 tU per year.

Uranium is sold only to countries which are signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and which allow international inspection to verify that it is used only for peaceful purposes.

Other uses of nuclear energy
Many people, when talking about nuclear energy, have only nuclear reactors (or perhaps nuclear weapons) in mind. Few people realise the extent to which the use of radioisotopes has changed our lives over the last few decades.

Using relatively small special-purpose nuclear reactors it has become possible to make a wide range of radioactive materials (radioisotopes) at low cost. For this reason the use of artificially-produced radioisotopes has become widespread since the early 1950s, and there are now some 270 “research” reactors in 59 countries producing them. These are essentially neutron factories rather than sources of heat.

Radioisotopes
In our daily life we need food, water and good health. Today, radioactive isotopes play an important part in the technologies that provide us with all three. They are produced by bombarding small amounts of particular elements with neutrons.

In medicine, radioisotopes are widely used for diagnosis and research. Radioactive chemical tracers emit gamma radiation which provides diagnostic information about a person’s anatomy and the functioning of specific organs. Radiotherapy also employs radioisotopes in the treatment of some illnesses, such as cancer. More powerful gamma sources are used to sterilise syringes, bandages and other medical equipment. About one person in two in the western world is likely to experience the benefits of nuclear medicine in their lifetime, and gamma sterilisation of equipment is almost universal.

In the preservation of food, radioisotopes are used to inhibit the sprouting of root crops after harvesting, to kill parasites and pests, and to control the ripening of stored fruit and vegetables. Irradiated foodstuffs are accepted by world and national health authorities for human consumption in an increasing number of countries. They include potatoes, onions, dried and fresh fruits, grain and grain products, poultry and some fish. Some prepacked foods can also be irradiated.

In the growing of crops and breeding livestock, radioisotopes also play an important role. They are used to produce high yielding, disease-resistant and weather-resistant varieties of crops, to study how fertilisers and insecticides work, and to improve the productivity and health of domestic animals.

Industrially, and in mining, they are used to examine welds, to detect leaks, to study the rate of wear of metals, and for on-stream analysis of a wide range of minerals and fuels.

There are many other uses. A radioisotope derived from the plutonium formed in nuclear reactors is used in most household smoke detectors.

Radioisotopes are used to detect and analyse pollutants in the environment, and to study the movement of surface water in streams and also of groundwater.

Other reactors
There are also other uses for reactors. Over 200 small nuclear reactors power some 150 ships, mostly submarines, but ranging from icebreakers to aircraft carriers. These can stay at sea for long periods without having to make refuelling stops. In the Russian Arctic where operating conditions are beyond the capability of conventional icebreakers, very powerful nuclear-powered vessels operate almost year-round, where previously only two months could be used each year.

The heat produced by nuclear reactors can also be used directly rather than for generating electricity. In Sweden and Russia, for example, it is used to heat buildings and to provide heat for a variety of industrial processes such as water desalination. Nuclear desalination is likely to be a major growth area in the next decade.

High-temperature heat from nuclear reactors is likely to be employed in some industrial processes in future, especially for making hydrogen.

Military weapons
Both uranium and plutonium were used to make bombs before they became important for making electricity and radioisotopes. The type of uranium and plutonium for bombs is different from that in a nuclear power plant. Bomb-grade uranium is highly-enriched (>90% U-235, instead of about 3.5%); bomb-grade plutonium is fairly pure (>90%) Pu-239 and is made in special reactors.

Since the 1990s, due to disarmament, a lot of military uranium has become available for electricity production. The military uranium is diluted about 25:1 with depleted uranium (mostly U-238) from the enrichment process before being used in power generation.

To investigate:

How did uranium and plutonium get their names?
What other element associated with them was named similarly? (It is actually between uranium and plutonium!).
When was the first nuclear reactor run?
When was the first electricity made by commercial nuclear power plants?
Which were the first three countries to have nuclear electricity?
Which country has all its (18) nuclear reactors running on natural (unenriched) uranium?
What materials are used for control rods in a reactor core?
Which countries are most actively expanding their nuclear generating capacity?
Updated in February 2011

Latest before and after images of the JAPAN TSUNAME (click here)

SEDGEFIELD HOLIDAY WESTERN CAPE

Set in beautiful grounds on the shores of the Swartviei Lake in Sedgefield, this resort offers fishing, bird watching, boating and other water sports all on your doorstep.Nestled at the foothills of the great Outeniqua Mountains and on the shores of the Swartvlei Lake, Baywater Village provides the ultimate in relaxation.Serviced, self-catering sedgefield chalets , tastefully furnished and equipped with all the modern conveniences.On the shores of Swartvlei Lake in Sedgefield and set in beautiful grounds with prolific birdlife in the indigenous shrubs, this resort offers visitors tastefully furnished and well-equipped self-catering units. You’ll be able to enjoy plenty of activities such as fishing, birding, boating and other watersports on your doorstep, and there’s a swimming pool, games room, tennis courts, trampoline and mini-golf.
Sedgefield Accommodation

Services and Facilities

Aircon. /fan (Fan)
Braai facility (Barbeque) (Undercover)
Cleaning Services (Except on Sunday)
Detergents
Linen
Microwave
Parking
Satelite TV (9 DSTV Channels)
Shower
Television ( SABC 1,2,3 & E-tv)
Towels

Fishing
Key, Breakage (R350)
Parking
Sail/Boating
Swimming pool
Tennis Court
Water skiing

Facilities at the resort include byciles (for hire) canoes / paddle-boats, cocktail bar, games room, kiosk craft work, laundry (Coins) parking, putt-putt, playground, pool / snooker, swimming pool, tennis court, pay phone, volleyball / basket ball and water sports.

Short drive to beach, fishing, horse riding, bowling club, medical facilities, shops and restaurants.

SEDGEFIELD DECEMBER HOLIDAY

Rates

Option 1
CHALET: One bedroom and bathroom sleeps 2 adults and 2 children. Open plan lounge, dining area and well equipped kitchen. Ideal for couple with 2 young children to enjoy a midweek break away from the office or that special Honeymoon getaway!

Period – 17/12/2010 to 24/12/2010

Number of nights – 7

Sleep Maximum – 4

Rate – R10 000.00 (7 Nights)

Option 2

CHALET: Two bedrooms and bathroom sleeps 4 adults and 2 children. Open plan lounge, dining area and well equipped kitchen. Ideal for couple with 2 young children to enjoy a december holiday near Sedgefield.

Period – 10/12/2010 to 17/12/2010

Sleep Maximum – 6

Rate – R15 000.00 (7 Nights)

Contact Us

Name : Ben Fouche

Cell : 082 555 8122

E-mail : ben@brn.co.za

SEDGEFIELD ACCOMODATION