How South Africa Built 6 Atom Bombs

How South Africa built six atom bombs is the definitive account of how a maverick government was able to secretly develop and test atoms bombs. South Africa - then still dominated by Pretoria's apartheid-orientated regime - achieved that objective within six years - or roughly half the time it took Pakistan to test its first nuclear weapon. More salient, it did so with only a fraction of the number of scientists, technicians and specialists involved in other nuclear programs, such as those of India, Pakistan and North Korea. For instance, there were never more than a half-dozen nuclear physicists involved in the actual weaponisation of the South African bombs. Al Venter argues persuasively that if a small country like South Africa could achieve all this - using only limited human resources - then it is axiomatic that other countries - or radical political groups - will ultimately be able to do the same. It is significant that Dr Mohammed ElBaradei, head of Vienna's International Atomic Energy Agency, told the world in 2007 that there were currently more than 30 countries involved in nuclear matters, quite a few clandestinely.