The government has not gone behind the backs of South Africans to sign any nuclear deal over the Christmas season. So says the man whose signature is attached to this week's Government Gazette notice that sent social media into a frenzy of accusations that President Jacob Zuma and his cabinet waited until the holidays to sneak in the controversial R1-trillion nuclear deal.But former energy minister Ben Martins - dropped from the Zuma cabinet last year - said that all that was published this week was a "ministerial determination", which was the first step of the process.The tendering process was yet to start, said Martins.story_article_left1"The note with [the National Energy Regulator of South Africa] is ... looking at the beginning of a process [to say] is this viable or is it not viable? Then Nersa has to look at what the energy needs of the country are and ... sign off," he said.Martins said his understanding was that although the document was signed on November 11 2013, it was only gazetted this week, because it first had to go through a cabinet sub-committee made up of about eight departments.It then had to go to the cabinet for approval.It still had to go through a parliamentary process, and then it would go out on public tender."There are a number of countries with expertise on nuclear. For instance, Russia is very good with infrastructure ... France is the best in instrumentation, and other countries like [South] Korea, they all have their specialities. There isn't a single country that can deliver on all aspects ... when you build a house you have a major contractor, somebody else might be good on carpentry ... so you call in all those issues. But the country still has to decide."Even if you read the document itself ... it says there must be an open tender process," he said.The Treasury would still have "to come in to say, 'Can the country afford this?'," said Martins.Martins's views were supported by high-ranking officials in the Department of Energy, who promised yesterday that the cabinet would take no decision on the shape of a nuclear programme, and no nuclear deal would be signed, before a financially feasible model was decided on.The notice in the gazette sets out that the Department of Energy will be the procurement agency for any nuclear deal, and that the tendering process will be "fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective". It was signed at the end of 2013 by Martins and the then Nersa CEO Cecilia Khuzwayo.story_article_right2It states that all the nuclear power generated would be sold to Eskom unless the energy minister decided that it could be sold to additional buyers.In the October supplementary budget, the only amount set aside for nuclear was R200-million, which senior Treasury officials said would be spent on global research into the best funding models for nuclear new build.Ministerial proposals pass through a cabinet cluster committee system before being placed before the cabinet on a priority basis, passed by cabinet and then gazetted. This is often a lengthy process.Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan recently gave the assurance that the nuclear procurement process would go ahead only if the country could afford it.Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson and departmental spokeswoman Thandiwe Maimane did not return calls and messages yesterday.DA MP Gordon Mackay said clarity on the funding model was needed.ngalwas@sundaytimes.co.za, joubertj@sundaytimes.co.za..