Its annual budget is about R20 million, of which it derives about R5 million from government, raising the balance through license fees. The CNS originated from within the AEC, having become fully independent from its parent organisation in 1988. Many of the options presented under this issue should be read in conjunction with each other. A remaining policy issue is the appropriate location of the CNS, and how it is constituted. It might be argued that nuclear matters are very different from other pollution or environmental matters, requiring extremely specialised approaches that preclude bundling these issues under one ministry.
Implementation Investigate the implications of a changed reporting structure.
Enact legislation to implement this shift. Time frame Immediate. It might be argued that nuclear matters are very different from other pollution or environmental matters, requiring extremely specialised approaches which should be integrated in the Energy Ministry. Various cost savings are possible if infrastructure is shared with other regulators. The advantage would be that a very pressing problem associated with the industry would receive more attention, and that the public would be drawn into the process of developing a solution to it.