When did South Africa have nuclear weapons?

From the 1940s-1990s, South Africa’s apartheid government engaged in research and development of weapons of mass destruction. In 1989, however, its decision to end the nuclear program made South Africa the only country to achieve a nuclear weapon capability and voluntarily relinquish it.

What was the purpose of creating nuclear weapons?

From this point of view, the significance of nuclear weapons is to deter war because any nuclear war would escalate out of mutual distrust and fear, resulting in mutually assured destruction. This threat of national, if not global, destruction has been a strong motivation for anti-nuclear weapons activism.

Why would countries want to develop and possess nuclear weapons?

This would operate at four levels: to deter a conventional attack from a non-nuclear regional power; to deter an openly nuclear regional state—today only including Pakistan and India; to deter Israel; or to deter a major external power, notably the United States but, in theory at least, also including Russia.

Do South Africa have nuclear weapons?

After all, there are no nuclear weapons on the continent. South Africa, the only African nation to have had nuclear weapons, gave them up in 1989, and Libya stopped its nuclear weapons programme in 2003. Today, all African states bar South Sudan are members of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Does South Africa have nuclear power?

South Africa has two nuclear reactors generating 5\% of its electricity. South Africa’s first commercial nuclear power reactor began operating in 1984. Government commitment to the future of nuclear energy has been strong.

Why was nuclear power invented?

A major goal of nuclear research in the mid-1950s was to show that nuclear energy could produce electricity for commercial use. The first commercial electricity-generating plant powered by nuclear energy was located in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. It reached its full design power in 1957.

When were nuclear weapons created?

July 16, 1945
On July 16, 1945, in the desert north of Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first nuclear test took place, code-named “Trinity”, using a device nicknamed “the gadget.” The test, a plutonium implosion-type device, released energy equivalent to 22 kilotons of TNT, far more powerful than any weapon ever used before.

Why did South Africa want nuclear weapons?

South Africa sought nuclear weapons for familiar reasons. Although it enjoyed presumptive conventional dominance over any likely regional opponent, Pretoria worried that the advantage might erode over time.

Why did we create nuclear weapons and let them go?

Instead, the story of why we created nuclear weapons, and then let them go, is complicated and rooted in apartheid history. The National Interest outlines the origins of our nuclear program, which started in the 1960s. South Africa sought nuclear weapons for familiar reasons.

Is South Africa a model for Nuclear Disarmament?

Apart from the Soviet successor states, which had only very limited control over the nuclear arsenals left on their soil, South Africa is the only country to develop, then renounce, nuclear weapons. Some arms control advocates have pointed to South Africa as a potential model for further nuclear disarmament.

Where was the first nuclear bomb tested in South Africa?

The South African Atomic Energy Board (AEB) selected a test site in the Kalahari Desert at the Vastrap weapons range north of Upington. Two test shafts were completed in 1976 and 1977. One shaft was 385 metres deep, the other, 216 metres.