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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: neolib who wrote (174438)	11/6/2005 7:53:10 PM
From: bentway	Respond to of 281500

This is from the timeline: "22 September 1979 A US Vela surveillance satellite detects a "brief, intense, double flash of light near the southern tip of Africa." Due to its characteristics, the US officials estimate that the flash could have resulted from the test of a nuclear device with a yield of 2-4 kilotons. South Africa emerges "as the prime suspect," but the South African government denies that it has conducted a nuclear test. There are also rumors that Israel conducted a nuclear test, either alone or in conjunction with South Africa. US President Jimmy Carter assembles a panel of non-governmental scientists to determine whether the flash registered by the Vela was the result of a nuclear explosion.[29] November 1979 The Y-Plant produces sufficient HEU to provide 55kg of 80-percent enriched U235 for use with the AEB's second nuclear device, which was built in 1978. The AEB assembles the device to ensure that "everything fits properly." The AEB device is a "non-deliverable demonstration device," designed for use in an underground nuclear test that would prove South Africa's nuclear weapons capability.[30] The device is eventually transferred from temporary storage in an abandoned coal mine at Witbank to a special vault at the Kentron Circle facility. Armscor later note that this AEB device is not a "qualified" design, indicating there is "not an adequate degree of assurance that it would detonate as intended or that it would not detonate accidentally."[31] " It would be fascinating if the South African government WOULD reveal whatever links to the Israeli nuclear program they had, now that they are supposedly out of the game...