Readers guessed correctly - The statement that South Africa is the 2nd country to build nuclear weapons is false -- We were the 1st!
South Africa was the first and only country to build nuclear weapons and then voluntarily dismantle them.
In the 1980s, South Africa constructed six gun-type nuclear weapons and had started building a seventh.
Less than a decade after assembling its first nuclear weapon, South Africa abandoned its nuclear weapons programme, joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear weapon state, and allowed international inspections of its former nuclear weapons programme.
In 1993, South African President F. W. de Klerk announced publicly that South African had pursued a nuclear weapons programme from 1974 through 1990 as a deterrent to counter a perceived Soviet threat in the region.
Since abandoning its nuclear weapons programme, South Africa has emerged as a champion of both global nuclear non-proliferation and equal access to peaceful nuclear energy. However, South Africa's remaining dual-use nuclear capabilities have made it both a possible exporter of nuclear technology and know-how, and a target for state and non-state actors seeking nuclear materials.
Source: http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/south-africa/nuclear/
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Answer to the Reader Quiz
Readers guessed correctly - The statement that South Africa is the 2nd country to build nuclear weapons is false -- We were the 1st!
South Africa was the first and only country to build nuclear weapons and then voluntarily dismantle them.
In the 1980s, South Africa constructed six gun-type nuclear weapons and had started building a seventh.
Less than a decade after assembling its first nuclear weapon, South Africa abandoned its nuclear weapons programme, joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear weapon state, and allowed international inspections of its former nuclear weapons programme.
In 1993, South African President F. W. de Klerk announced publicly that South African had pursued a nuclear weapons programme from 1974 through 1990 as a deterrent to counter a perceived Soviet threat in the region.
Since abandoning its nuclear weapons programme, South Africa has emerged as a champion of both global nuclear non-proliferation and equal access to peaceful nuclear energy. However, South Africa's remaining dual-use nuclear capabilities have made it both a possible exporter of nuclear technology and know-how, and a target for state and non-state actors seeking nuclear materials.
Source: http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/south-africa/nuclear/
.
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