Revisiting South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program: Its History, Dismantlement, and Lessons for Today

by David Albright, Andrea Stricker

In 1989, South Africa made the momentous decision to abandon its nuclear weapons, making it the first and still the only country that has produced nuclear weapons and given them up. Over thirty years, the apartheid regime had created a remarkably sophisticated capability to build nuclear weapons—both the nuclear warhead and advanced military systems to deliver them. The program was born in secret and remained so until its end. The government initially sought to dismantle it in secret. It hoped to avoid any negative international consequences of possessing nuclear weapons. The apartheid government’s strategy did not work, because too many intelligence agencies knew about South Africa’s nuclear weapons. Faced with intense pressure, South Africa’s President F.W. de Klerk reversed course and adopted a policy of transparency in 1993. However, he decided to hide many of its aspects. Nonetheless, most of the remaining secrets emerged over the ensuing 25 years. This book provides the first comprehensive, technically-oriented look at South Africa’s nuclear weapons program; how it grew, evolved, and ended. It also finds lessons for today’s proliferation cases.

Genres: History

314 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 20, 2016

Reviews

[William O. Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An in-depth look at how the Republic of South Africa under apartheid felt the need to develop a nuclear arsenal and missile program The book appears to be well researched with cited references explaining how a changing world political realignment resulted in the dismantling of South Africa’s nuclear weapons program in the late 1980s and 1990s—the only nation to nuclear disarm.

[MJ Salazar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Read in the Process

I'm currently reading the book and am very interested in what I've read. The only reason I'm taking a break is because its the weekend, and I need the sleep.

I give the book a five star rating because even if I only read the part I've already read, its very relevant and informative.

[Stephen Curran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Technical book on SA nuclear weapons program



Not a bad book. Would have liked more on the test explosion detected of the SA coast in the late 1970's