The Vanished Atom of Apartheid

The Vanished Atom of Apartheid: The South African Nuclear Program Dismantled

You learn a lot by analyzing South Africa's nuclear program. :

• First of all, it is the guarantee of survival given to a small country of six million white people who are under siege, a “minimum” but “sufficient” program,
• Above all, it is a reference, that of a program dismantled when the questionable regime that gave rise to it comes to an end and the regional threats that justified it disappear.

The atom is for white people

South Africa, a developed, segregationist state, threatened by neighbors supported by the Soviet Union, condemned from all sides, saw Western support disappear from the 70s. Increasingly isolated, the South African government became convinced that it would not be rescued in the event of an attack and that nuclear weapons were the only guarantee of the survival of the country and its regime. We have to admit that it is a rational decision.

Very early on, South Africa became interested in nuclear power:

• quite naturally, since 1952 it has been a producer of uranium,
• 1957 was a key first date. It sees the signing of an agreement with the United States, as part of the “Atoms for Peace” program. It allows the country to acquire a Safari-1 nuclear reactor and highly enriched fuel.
• The year 1970 saw the launch of a first scientific phase of studies on the subject of “nuclear explosives”.
• the military dimension was retained in 1974 when Soviet penetration into Africa became more insistent,
• the program was completed in 1987.

‍

The South African nuclear program is exemplary in its modesty: the bomb within the reach of a small country. The white population of South Africa did not reach six million people in the 1980s.

Fissile fuel finds its source in a “local” enrichment process derived from the German “jet-nozzle” process, an isotopic separation process using nozzles, developed by Professor Erwin Becker. The pilot enrichment site was launched in 1971, and the industrial site reached full capacity in 1977.

Bombs are devices with a simple “gun-type” architecture, without a neutron generator. The core consists of 55 kilos of uranium-235 enriched to 90%; the expected power of the bomb is between 10 and 18 kilotons. The first bomb was not assembled until 1982. A total of six bombs will be assembled at the rate of one bomb per year alone allowed by enriched uranium production capacities. They are relatively heavy machines, one ton with a diameter of 65 centimeters and 1.8 meters in length.  

These bombs were to be carried by a British Buccaneer light bomber whose first flight dates back to 1968.

_Sources:

_{[1] A chronology of South Africa's nuclear program, http://cns.miis.edu/npr/pdfs/masiza11.pdf , Base\ a_Chronology_of_South_Africa' s_Nuclear_Program.pdf}

_{[1] How South Africa was able to develop “its” nuclear bomb, http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1978/09/SCHISSEL/16853,, Base\ How to develop “its” nuclear bomb,, Base\ Comment_South_Africa_Cou_Cou_Point_The_Bombe.pdf}

_{[1] South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program, http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Safrica/SABuildingBombs.html,, Base\ South_Africa' s_Nuclear_Weapons_Program.pdf}

_{[1] Birth and Death of the South African NuclearWeapons Programme http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/rsa/nuke/stumpf.htm, Base\ Birth_and_Death_of_the_South_African_Nuclear.pdf}

‍

Figure 44 A Buccaneer bomber in the colors of South Africa

London and Washington are targeted

The doctrine for the use of South African nuclear weapons has only been partially revealed. It consisted of two dimensions, preventive and operational.

The first and main dimension is preventive. Its purpose: to obtain the support of the West, that is to say from London and Washington, in the event of aggression orchestrated by the Soviet Union. The means used, a nuclear blackmail in three phases:

Phase 1: Strategic uncertainty: the capacity for nuclear deterrence is neither recognized nor denied,

Phase 2: if the integrity of South Africa was threatened, for example by the countries of the Warsaw Pact or by Cuban forces in Angola, it would be considered to ask that certain countries such as the United States secretly recognize its existence,

Phase 3: If the partial disclosure of South Africa's capabilities was not sufficient to make the threat disappear, a public announcement or underground test would be considered to demonstrate South African nuclear capabilities.

Operational doctrine did not come into being. There are two reasons for this:

• the importance of the feared international reactions in the event of the implementation of strikes.
• the absence of adversaries: Angola will never be a threat to South Africa. In the absence of credible vis-à-vis, deterrence cannot be achieved.

The military nuclear program can, must be dismantled

The end of apartheid, and the establishment of a multiracial regime, made the surrounding threats disappear. South African nuclear devices can be dismantled, the military industrial component dispersed or ruined without affecting the country's security.

But the country goes further. The South African bomb does not belong to the heritage of the African Nation, it is the weapon of Apartheid. White power, at the time of disappearing, ensures that all the industrial substrate that allowed the construction of nuclear weapons to be dismantled. The decision was taken by Frederik Willem De Klerk in 1990. It accompanies the democratic process that would end apartheid in 1991. In 1994, after the inspection of nuclear sites had been completed, the IAEA confirmed the denuclearization of South Africa. According to them, a “black power” should not have nuclear weapons.

EV