ABSTRACT
South Africa’s nuclear program dates to the late 1940s, when the country began to supply uranium to the United States and Great Britain for use in their respective nuclear weapon development efforts. South Africa also participated in the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1957 and was given a permanent seat on its board of governors, as the country with the “most advanced” nuclear program in its region. South Africa probably would go forward with a nuclear weapons program if it saw a serious threat from its African neighbors beginning to emerge. The new US law prohibited further imports of South African uranium ore and oxide and codified the ban in the Reagan executive order on all classes of US nuclear exports to South Africa. If South Africa joins the pact, however, the development would have far-reaching significance.
