QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

EXPLORATION:South Africa

Brita SandsDerek SiddowayErika Mariano

Matt BoothMatt Thomas

QuestionWhy did South Africa

dismantle their nuclear program?

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

NUCLEAR SOUTH AFRICA

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Why Did South Africa

Proliferate?

• Motivation: Began their proliferation in 1969 for peaceful purposes

• Capabilities:– Significant uranium deposits within their borders– Their scientists were educated in the US (Manhattan

Project)• Security:

– Response to Cuban presence in Angola, Soviet presence in Africa

• Domestic Politics:– Isolated: leaders believed program could draw in the US

• Norms:– Large nationalistic sentiment, patriotism amongst leaders

Israel Issue

• Israel was the main beneficiary of South African uranium at the time

• the nuclear test site built in Kalahari was probably used to test the Israeli bomb (double flash).

Why Did South Africa

Dismantle Their Nuclear Program?

QuickTime™ and aH.264 decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Process of Dismantling• Less than 24 month process, beginning in

1990• Did not initially seek help from IAEA• the uranium enrichment plant and production

facility were decommissioned• The six devices were dismantled• hardware and technical documents were

destroyed • By September 1991, all of South Africa nuclear

plants and all of its HEU were placed under IAEA safeguards

• The unilateral dismantlement process was completed by 1992

Reasons for DismantlingSecurity:• Cold War was near its end - no threat from USSR• Cuban troops withdrew from Angola• Namibia’s independence ceased their regional threatDomestic:• Ending apartheid - likelihood that ANC would take power

would put nuclear weapons the hands of Libyan supportersInternational:• Pressure from US - South Africa would be treated as

“hostile nation” with economic/political consequences• Fear of technology falling into the wrong handsEconomic:• Projected costs would take away from other key sectors of

the defense industry

Motivations of F.W. De Klerk• 1989: developed experts committee to

discuss dismantling and joining NPT (eventually occurring in 1991)

• Wanted to normalize relations with international community, US, Germany, so that they would purchase uranium from South Africa

• Wanted to free up money for social and economic reform programs

• Those that wanted to keep program lost influence upon his election

South Africa: Currently

• Have since ratified CTBT• IAEA policies changed - UN Charter

7

Sources

• Burgess, Steven. “South Africa’s Nuclear Weapons Policies.” The Nonproliferation Review. 2006:13:3, 519-526.

• CNS Resources on South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program• Kroenig, Matthew. "Exporting the Bomb: Why States Provide

Sensitive Nuclear Assistance.” American Political Science Review Vol. 103, No. 1 February 2009.

• Reed & Tillman. “The Nuclear Express.” 2009. Chapter 11.• Reiss, Mitchell. “Bridled Ambitions.” 1995. Chapter 2.• Reiss, Mitchell & Robert Litwak. “Nuclear Proliferation after the

Cold War.” 1994. Chapter 9.• Stumpf, Waldo. "South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program:

From Deterrence to Dismantlement.”. Arms Control Today, Dec. 1995/Jan1996, Vol. 25, No. 10.

Artwork

• http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2010/09/obama-on-islami.html

• http://cns.miis.edu/safrica/map.htm• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Dir: Steven Spielberg. Perf. Harrison Ford. DVD. Paramount Pictures, 2008.