South Africa’s Nuclear-Related Facilities

Michael Barletta
Christina Ellington
March 1999

Mining and Milling

Conversion

Uranium Enrichment

Fuel Fabrication

Reactors and Critical Assemblies

Waste Disposal

Weapons-Dedicated Facilities

Sources:

1. This facility list is based on the following sources: Rob Adam, et al., “Country Programme Framework,” Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, November 23, 1998, (http://www.dacst.gov.za/country/index.htm). David Albright, “A Curious Conversion,” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, June 1993, (http://www.bullatomsci.org). David Albright, “Slow But Steady,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July-August 1993, (http://www.bullatomsci.org). David Albright, “South Africa’s Secret Nuclear Weapons,” ISIS Report, May 1994. David Albright, Frans Berkhout, and William Walker, Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996: World Inventories, Capabilities and Policies, (Oxford University Press, 1997). Atomic Energy Corporation, “Sale of Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Equipment on Tender,” August 17, 1998, (http://www.aec.co.za/pr/p980817a.htm). Atomic Energy Corporation, “Background on Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility,” PR Wire Service, April 8, 1998, (http://www.anc.org.za). K. Bharath-Ram, et al., “Review of the Atomic Energy Corporation,” Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, January 1997 (updated July 15, 1998), (http://www.dacst.gov.za/seti/aech.htm). Gail J. Fox, “Africa: Uranium Production and Nuclear Power Overview,” Nuclear Review, April 1997, pp. 24-31. “Home Affairs Apologizes to Chinese Technicians,” Business Day, December 1997, (http://www.bday.co.za). International Atomic Energy Agency, “Facilities Under Agency Safeguards or Containing Safeguarded Material on 31 December 1997,” in The Annual Report for 1997, (Vienna: Division of Public Information, International Atomic Energy Agency, 1998), pp. 89-104. International Atomic Energy Agency, “Report on the Completeness of the Inventory of South Africa’s Nuclear Installations and Material,” Attachment to Gov/2609, September 3, 1992. Rodney W. Jones, Mark G. McDonough, with Toby F. Dalton, and Gregory D. Koblentz, “South Africa,” in Tracking Nuclear Proliferation: A Guide in Maps and Charts, 1998, (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1998), pp. 243-250. Ann MacLachlan and Michael Knapik, “South Africa to End MIS SWU Project,” NuclearFuel, December 29, 1997, p. 4. J.D.L. Moore, “The Development of South Africa’s Nuclear Capability,” in South Africa and Nuclear Proliferation, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987). Nuclear Engineering International, 1998 World Nuclear Industry Handbook, (United Kingdom: Wilmington Business Publishing, 1998). Reuters; in “South Africa to Close Uranium Enrichment Plant,” Executive News Service, January 25, 1995. Stuart Rutherford, “Old Nukes Thriving Sector: Nuclear Fuels also Battered by Market Fall-Out,” Uranium, September 26, 1997, (http://www.fm.co.za). The Star, December 13, 1997; in “Nuclear Equipment Sold to China Had Been Redundant for Years, Says AEC,” Independent Online, (http://www.inc.co.za). SAPA, (Johannesburg), April 7, 1998; in FBIS-TEN-98-097, (7 April 1998). Leonard S. Spector, “South Africa,” The Undeclared Bomb, (Cambridge: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1988), pp. 286-305. Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa, Annual Report 1998, (http://www.aec.co.za/annual98/index.htm). Adolf Von Baeckmann, Gary Dillon and Demetrius Perricos, “Nuclear Verification in South Africa,” IAEA Bulletin, 1(1995), (http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/inforesource/bulletin/bull371/baeckmann.html). Waldo Stumpf, “South Africa: Nuclear Technology and Non-Proliferation,” Security Dialogue, 1993, 24(4): 455-58.
2. Published reports conflict on the location of the pilot-scale Y-plant and semi-commercial Z-plant. According to David R. Kyd, Director of the Division of Public Information at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the IAEA considers the decommissioned pilot plant to be located at Pelindaba East (formerly Valindaba), and the semi-commercial plant to be located at Pelindaba West. Kyd noted, however, that “Valindaba is very close by and could almost be considered part of the same overall site.” David R. Kyd, Director of the Division of Public Information, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria, electronic mail communication with Christina Ellington, December 4, 1998.
3. The AEC has invited international buyers to submit bids for the purchase of fuel fabrication equipment used in fabricating pellets and fuel assembly. Atomic Energy Corporation, “Sale of Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Equipment on Tender,” August 17, 1998, (http://www.aec.co.za/pr/p980817a.htm).
4. In 1997-98, the Johannesburg newspaper Mail & Guardian reported that it possessed internal AEC documents noting that Vaalputs stores high-level radioactive waste, although the facility is not licensed to do so. Swapna Prabhakaran, “Pelindaba Bomb Fuel Plant Sold as Scrap,” Mail & Guardian, July 11, 1997, (http://www.mg.co.za). “‘Leaky’ Vaalputs to Store Uranium Rods,” Mail and Guardian, April 13, 1998, (http://www.mg.co.za).
5. Equipment used for uranium metallurgy at Kentron Circle was returned to the AEC with the termination of the nuclear weapons program, and the entire uranium metallurgy process area at the facility was dismantled and decontaminated. Machine tools used in the manufacture of HEU and high explosives components were also decontaminated and made available for use in non-nuclear applications. Gary Dillon and Demetrius Perricos, “Experience Gained in the Verification of the Completeness and Correctness of the Inventory of South Africa’s Declaration,” presentation at the International Atomic Energy Agency Symposium on Safeguards, held in Vienna, Austria, March 14-18, 1994.