bomb

South Africa’s Bomb kept the world guessing for years. Six-and-a- half nuclear bombs had been secretly built and destroyed, former South African President F.W. de Klerk announced in 1993. No other country has ever voluntarily destroyed its nuclear arsenal. From 1975 Nic von Wielligh was involved in the production of nuclear weapons material, the dismantling of the nuclear weapons and the provision of evidence of South Africa’s bona fides to the international community. The International Atomic Energy Agency declared South Africa’s Initial Report to be the most comprehensive and professional that they had ever received. In this book the nuclear physicist and his daughter Lydia von Wielligh-Steyn tell the gripping story of the splitting of the atom and the power it releases. It is an account of ground-breaking research and the scientists responsible; it deals with uranium enrichment, the arms race and South Africa’s secret programme. The Bomb: South Africa’s nuclear programme is a story of nuclear explosions, espionage, smuggling of nuclear materials and swords that became ploughshares.

It appears to be very close to the final word on the subject... belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in what happened behind the scenes in South Africa before 1990. - Leopold Scholtz, independent historian, critic and political commentator. Beeld

Dr Nic von Wielligh is an internationally respected nuclear physicist. After South Africa's accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1991, he was responsible for the implementation of IAEA Safeguards in South Africa. Later he served as advisor on the IAEA's committees onnuclear energy and safeguards. He is the author of various international scientific publications. Lydia von Wielligh-Steyn

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