Our long serving Members will recall the articles written each month by John Walmsley who for many years was a member of one of the SAIMechE’s specialist groups, The SA Institution of Nuclear Engineers which operated as a branch of the UK body.

John passed away in October last year with complications arising from asbestos exposure in his early days. It is suspected that it could be a result of working with the type of piping insulation used in power stations.

John qualified as Nuclear Physicist in England prior to joining Eskom where he played a major role in the nuclear department and in the Koeberg Project.

John had a very visionary view on the role of nuclear power which was the main content of his regular articles, expressed in his skillful and erudite manner. He was an excellent writer, the quality of which was commented on by most readers. Writing a regular feature for a monthly journal with its unforgiving deadlines is a major commitment, especially when done as a free service and when it becomes an element of the publication that readers turn to with great expectation.

John saw a definite role for nuclear power in the SA mix but certainly not in the magnitude as currently identified by government. Disappointed at the closure of the PBMR project, he hoped that other developments in nuclear would emerge of the same scale. With his background in nuclear physics he was able to give some in-depth evaluation on the various technologies that are available and that are being researched and tested at present.

John was involved on promoting and encouraging the development of engineering resources for a future nuclear programme and had addressed many aspects of this including the following:

• Promoting teaching, research and innovation capacity in South African Universities in strategic areas in the nuclear field
• Facilitating nuclear skills development through skills transfer programs as part of technology acquisition from local and international suppliers
• Creating a continuous pipeline of high school learners into the nuclear industry
• Developing a critical research and skills base to support the nuclear programme

John retired to Fishhoek with his wife Susan and was a regular player at the Clovelly Golf Club. We had some memorable sessions quaffing good wine at the Waterfront pondering over the state of nuclear in SA and the issue of having the local SA branch of the UK Institution becoming an independent SA Institution which in fact did never materialize.