nuclear-news

Nuclear terrorism’s close shave: plutonium store still at risk

Pelindaba was also the site of an incredible break-in in the end of 2007.

Palindaba Uranium Facility Assult Was Nearly Successful OverTheLimit  June 21, 2010 Pelindaba is a nuclear power plant tucked back in the bush of South Africa. While it may seem like an ordinary plant, Pelinadaba was used as a secret weapons facility by the previous Apartheid government. Here they created weapons grade uranium, and it is here that that same plutonium is stored now that the new government has control and the weapons manufacturing has stopped.

This may not sound alarming at first, but Pelindaba was also the site of an incredible break-in in the end of 2007. Four armed gunmen entered the facility and made it all the way into the control room before encountering any resistance. Records show that a second team of gunmen were entering the back of the property when the control room ruckus started.

These men were able to get through an electric fence, past security cameras, through locked doors and into the control room without incidence. The security failures surrounding this event are shocking. The gunmen, however, did not reach or obtain the uranium.

The U.S. government is trying to work with the South African government to convert the uranium to a non-weapons grade formula and increase security around the plant. They are being met with some resistance as the South African government finds it unnecessary to take all these extra steps. Terror groups reaching this uranium while it still remains weapons grade to have ill effects on the entire world.

OverTheLimit » Palindaba Uranium Facility Assult Was Nearly Successful

June 23, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, South Africa | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radiation, radioactive