South Africa: The ANC and the Atom Bomb

Pretoria, South Africa has refused to confirm of deny that it had a nuclear weapons program before decideing to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1991. South Africa's most immediate nonproliferative priority is to eliminate its weapon-grade uranium, which Pretoria has offered to sell to the United States. Pretoria expects the material to be placed under IAEA safeguards and kept out of the U.S. nuclear weapons program. In return, South Africa would receive non-weapons-usable low-enriched uranium to use in its nuclear power reactors. The ramifications of the proposed exchange are discussed.