This annotated chronology is based on the data sources that follow each entry. Public sources often provide conflicting information on classified military programs. In some cases we are unable to resolve these discrepancies, in others we have deliberately refrained from doing so to highlight the potential influence of false or misleading information as it appeared over time. In many cases, we are unable to independently verify claims. Hence in reviewing this chronology, readers should take into account the credibility of the sources employed here.

Inclusion in this chronology does not necessarily indicate that a particular development is of direct or indirect proliferation significance. Some entries provide international or domestic context for technological development and national policymaking. Moreover, some entries may refer to developments with positive consequences for nonproliferation.

1944
The British government asks South Africa Prime Minister Jan C. Smuts to survey South Africa's uranium deposits. The study reveals the existence of large deposits of low-grade ore.
—David Fischer, "South Africa: As a Nuclear Supplier," in W.C. Potter, ed., International Nuclear Trade and Nonproliferation: The Challenges of the Emerging Suppliers (Toronto: Lexington Books, 1990), p. 273.

1945
Dr. Basil Schonland chairs the first meeting of the Uranium Committee.
—"AEC Corporate Profile," Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa, <http://www.aec.co.za/profile/profile.htm>.

1948
Based on the findings of the Uranium Committee and following promulgation of the Atomic Energy Act of 1948, the South African Atomic Energy Board (AEB)—forerunner to the Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC)—is established.
—A.R. Newby-Fraser, Chain Reaction: Twenty Years of Nuclear Research and Development (Pretoria: Atomic Energy Board, 1979), p. 5.

Late 1951
The Combined Development Agency (CDA), which was established by the United States and the United Kingdom in 1944 to procure uranium for the two countries' nuclear weapons programs, establishes the South African firm Calcined Products (Pty) Limited (Calprods), with the objective of producing uranium as a by-product of the country's gold mining operations. CDA finances Calprods and manages the firm in cooperation with South Africa's Chamber of Mines. The uranium produced is owned by the AEB, which approves the sales to the United States and the United Kingdom.
—"Company Profile," Nuclear Fuels Corporation of South Africa Limited (Nufcor), 28 August 1996.

September 1952
The first South African uranium plant is opened at West Rand Consolidated Mines, near Johannesburg.
—A.R. Newby-Fraser, Chain Reaction: Twenty Years of Nuclear Research and Development (Pretoria: Atomic Energy Board, 1979), p. 5.

March 1955
As of this date, 16 mines have been authorized to produce uranium.
—A.R. Newby-Fraser, Chain Reaction: Twenty Years of Nuclear Research and Development (Pretoria: Atomic Energy Board, 1979), p. 5.

July 1957
Under the aegis of the "Atoms for Peace" program, South Africa and the United States sign a bilateral 50-year agreement for nuclear collaboration. Under the agreement, South Africa acquires the Safari-1 reactor and assured supply of highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel for the reactor.
—Abdul Minty, "South Africa's Nuclear Capability: The Apartheid Bomb," in P. Johnson and D. Martin, eds., Destructive Engagement: Southern Africa at War (Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1986), p. 205; A.R. Newby-Fraser, Chain Reaction: Twenty Years of Nuclear Research and Development (Pretoria: Atomic Energy Board, 1979), p. 8.

1959
The research and development program for processing natural uranium is launched by the AEB.
—A.R. Newby-Fraser, Chain Reaction: Twenty Years of Nuclear Research and Development (Pretoria: Atomic Energy Board, 1979), p. 92.

Late 1950s
With the approval of the South African Cabinet, the AEB conducts research on heavy water production technology.
—US Central Intelligence Agency, Directorate of Intelligence, "South Africa's Turn to Heavy Water Technology: History and Implications," 8 April 1984, classified memorandum, partially declassified and released 14 August 1997, <http://www.foia.ucia.gov>.

1961
The AEB initiates research at the Pelindaba Nuclear Research Center, 30km west of Pretoria.
—Waldo Stumpf, "South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program: From Deterrence to Dismantlement," Arms Control Today, 25 (December 1995/January 1996), p. 3.

1961
Britain forces South Africa to leave the Commonwealth, largely in response to the Sharpeville Massacre.
—James Adams, The Unnatural Alliance (London: Quartet Books, 1984), p. 30.

21 April 1961
The Commission of Inquiry into the Application of Nuclear Power in South Africa publishes its findings, envisioning two five-year phases for national nuclear development. The first period is to focus on surveying the country's natural resources, training scientists in the United States and Europe, and establishing facilities. The Commission concludes that only during the second phase, which is to commence in 1964, will South Africa acquire sufficient information and technical expertise to estimate costs and determine which type of power generating reactors would most productively exploit the country's resource endowments.
—Report of the Commission of Enquiry into the Application of Nuclear Power in South Africa (Pretoria: Government Printer, 1961).

1963
South Africa provides Israel with 10 tons of uranium.
—US Central Intelligence Agency, Directorate of Intelligence, "New Information on South Africa's Nuclear Program and South African-Israeli Nuclear and Military Cooperation," 30 March 1983, top secret report partially declassified and released 27 April 1997, <http://www.foia.ucia.gov>.

10 October 1963
South Africa accedes to the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear testing in the atmosphere.
—US State Department, "Limited Test Ban Treaty Signatories," 5 August 1963, <http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/acda/treaties/ltbt1.htm>; US Central Intelligence Agency, Director of Central Intelligence, "Trends in South Africa's Nuclear Security Policies and Programs," 4 October 1984, top secret report partially declassified and released on April 27 1997<http://www.foia.ucia.gov>.

1964
The first batch of enriched uranium-235, to be used in the Allis Chalmers Safari-1 nuclear reactor, is scheduled for shipment in late August 1964, but is delayed until February of the following year while a trilateral agreement is worked out between the United States, South Africa, and the IAEA for safeguarding the transfer of the nuclear fuel.
—US Department of State, "Fuel for South African Nuclear Reactor," 22 December 1964, confidential memorandum declassified and released, Digital National Security Archive, <http://nsarchive.chadwyck.com/>; US Department of State, "South African Reactor Fuel Problem," 23 December 1964, secret memorandum declassified and released, Digital National Security Archive, <http://nsarchive.chadwyck.com/>; US Department of State, [US Delivery of Fuel Elements for First Core Safari I Reactor], 29 December 1964, confidential memorandum declassified and released, Digital National Security Archive, <http://nsarchive.chadwyck.com/>.

1965
The US firm Allis Chalmers Corporation supplies South Africa with the 20MW Safari-1 nuclear reactor and 90 percent highly enriched uranium (HEU) to fuel it. Safari-1 is located in Pelindaba, near Pretoria. The facility is commissioned the same year.
—The African Guardian (Lagos), 12 November 1987, pp. 7-9, 11; in "Akinyemi's Call for Black Bomb Spurs Debate," Nuclear Developments, 25 February 1988, pp. 1-3; Leonard S. Spector, The Undeclared Bomb: The Spread of Nuclear Weapons 1987-1988 (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1988), p. 303; Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa, "AEC Corporate Profile."

1967
An indigenously constructed reactor (also known as Pelinduna, Pelindaba-Zero or Safari-2) located at Pelindaba goes critical using 606kg of 2 percent enriched uranium and 5.4 metric tons of heavy water, both supplied by the United States. It is part of a project to develop a reactor moderated by heavy water, fueled by natural uranium, and cooled by sodium.
—David Albright, "South Africa's Secret Nuclear Weapons," ISIS Report, May 1994, p. 4, <htpp://www.isis-online.org/publications/southafrica/ir-594.html>; J.D.L Moore, "The Development of South Africa's Nuclear Capability," South Africa and Nuclear Proliferation (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987), pp. 83-84.

1967
The CDA transfers Calprod's assets to the South African gold mining industry, and the Nuclear Fuels Corporation (NUFCOR) is founded to process uranium ore into yellowcake and market it internationally.
—Nuclear Fuels Corporation of South Africa (Pty) Limited, "Company Profile;" U.N. Center for Disarmament, South Africa's Plan and Capability in the Nuclear Field, Disarmament Study Series No. 2 (New York: U.N., 1981), p. 7; cited in Steven Flank, "Exploding the Black Box: The Historical Sociology of Nuclear Proliferation," Security Studies, p. 3 (Winter 1993/94), p. 290.

1967
As part of its policy to increase mineral exports, South Africa decides to initiate uranium enrichment projects.
—Waldo Stumpf, "South Africa's Limited Nuclear Deterrent Programme and the Dismantling thereof Prior to South Africa's Accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," press conference, Washington, DC, 23 July 1993.

Late 1967
South Africa enriches uranium at the laboratory scale.
—David Albright, "South Africa's Secret Nuclear Weapons," ISIS Report, May 1994, p. 4, <htpp://www.isis-online.org/publications/southafrica/ir-594.html>.

1969
The AEB forms an internal committee to research the technical and economic aspects of peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs) for the mining industry, to excavate harbors and underground cavities for oil storage.
—International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Director General, "The Denuclearization of Africa," GC(XXXVII)/1075, 9 September 1993; Peter Liberman, "The Rise and Fall of the South African Bomb," International Security, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Fall 2001), p. 50.

1969
The AEB proposes using lasers to separate uranium isotopes, but the vortex method of separation is given priority.
—Mark Gorwitz, "Section 10; South Africa," Second Tier Nuclear Nations: Laser Isotope Separation Programs Technical Citations and Comments, unpublished paper, January 1996.

1969-70
South Africa abandons the critical assembly at Pelindaba and heavy water reactor project because it is draining resources from the uranium enrichment program that was initiated in 1967, and moreover is not competitive with light-water reactors. The assembly is dismantled in 1970.
—David Albright, "South Africa's Secret Nuclear Weapons," ISIS Report, May 1994, p. 4, <htpp://www.isis-online.org/publications/southafrica/ir-594.html>; J.D.L Moore, "The Development of South Africa's Nuclear Capability," in South Africa and Nuclear Proliferation (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987), p. 84.

	Updated November 2003