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eventREF E-0012039Revised

Event record

Nuclear Reactor At Pelindaba Goes Critical

Date
18 Mar 1965
Updated
22 Aug 2019
Nuclear Reactor At Pelindaba Goes Critical

On this date the nuclear reactor Safari, located in Pelindaba, near Pretoria, went critical and South Africa entered the nuclear age. The US firm Allis Chalmers Corporation had supplied South Africa with the 20MW Safari-1 nuclear reactor and highly enriched uranium (HEU) to fuel it. South Africa's nuclear program began after World War II when uranium deposits were discovered in the country. The project was not initially started with military ambitions. South Africa is the only country in the world to give up its nuclear weapons voluntarily. Sources: (author unknown), (2003). 'Milestones', The Star, 18 March, p. 2. http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/SAfrica/Nuclear/2149_2150.html http://web.mit.edu/ssp/spring01/albright.htm

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Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Nuclear Reactor At Pelindaba Goes Critical. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012039

South African History Online (2011) 'Nuclear Reactor At Pelindaba Goes Critical', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012039 (Accessed: 8 August 2026).

South African History Online, Nuclear Reactor At Pelindaba Goes Critical [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012039, (accessed 8 August 2026).

"Nuclear Reactor At Pelindaba Goes Critical." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012039. Accessed 8 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Nuclear Reactor At Pelindaba Goes Critical." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012039.

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