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Terrorist danger in enriched uranium storage

VIDEO
Nuke Facility Raid An Inside Job? – 60 Minutes – CBS News Eyewitness Talks To 60 Minutes About Brazen Assault On South African Nuclear Facility CBS) This story was first published on Nov. 28, 2008. It was updated on June 15, 2010.

When President Obama invited 47 world leaders to Washington for a nuclear security summit in April, the assault on Pelindaba was exactly the kind of scenario they were working to prevent.

It was a daring break-in at a heavily guarded nuclear plant that holds enough weapons grade uranium to build a dozen atomic bombs. The story was little known until 60 Minutes reported on it a year and a half ago through the eyes of the one man who stopped the plot.

What happened at Pelindaba is the kind of thing that keeps presidents and prime ministers awake at night.
Pelindaba is nestled in the African bush, not far from the capital of South Africa. It is where the former Apartheid regime secretly built nuclear weapons. In the 1990s, South Africa chose to disarm. The bombs were dismantled, but the highly enriched uranium, known as HEU – the fuel for the bombs – is still there. South Africa assures the world that Pelindaba is a fortress. But on the night of Nov. 7, 2007, it was the scene of the boldest raid ever attempted on a site holding bomb grade uranium.

Nuke Facility Raid An Inside Job? – 60 Minutes – CBS News

June 21, 2010 - Posted by | safety, South Africa | , , , , ,

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