South Africa Agrees to Stop Using HEU Reactor Fuel

South Africa is expected in the next few years to begin using low-enriched uranium in its SAFARI-1 nuclear research reactor instead of highly enriched uranium that could be used to create a nuclear weapon, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, March 14).

“The switch marks a further milestone in the government's program to ensure that the safety of nuclear materials is enhanced globally,” said South Africa’s Mineral and Energy Affairs Department.

The director of South Africa’s main nuclear reactor at Pelindaba refused to confirm how much highly enriched uranium was being stored at the site. “That information cannot be divulged” under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, said Tseliso Maqubela.

The reactor was built in the 1960s and is primarily used to produce radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine. Converting the reactor to use low-enriched uranium is expected to take three years, AFP reported.

Remaining highly enriched uranium at the site “will generally be applied to the manufacturing of medical isotopes … used in nuclear medicine diagnostics,” according to a department statement (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, July 18).

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