nuclear-news

South Africa: the country that built nuclear weapons and then gave them up

The Shocking Story of How One Country Built Nuclear Weapons (And Gave Them Up), National Interest,  Dave Majumdar, 28 Mar 18, 

The region and the world are undoubtedly safer because of the decisions made in the 1990s to relinquish South Africa’s nuclear program. Moreover, the dismantling of the relatively small program provided a template for how other nuclear powers could think about eliminating their own programs. However, with the exception of the Soviet successor states (which faced dramatically different constraints) no other states have yet taken up South Africa’s example. With the apparent increase in global tensions over the past few years, it seems unlikely that anyone will join South Africa in the post-nuclear club anytime soon.

The Republic of South Africa is the only country in the world to build a nuclear weapons program, then unbuild that program after domestic and international conditions changed. Why did South Africa decide to build nukes, how did it build them and why did it decide to give them up? The answers are largely idiosyncratic, although they may hold some lessons for the future of nuclear weapons development on the Korean Peninsula and elsewhere……..http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-shocking-story-how-one-country-built-nuclear-weapons-25110

March 28, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | South Africa, weapons and war | Leave a comment