[Southack]

Routine crime day in South Africa...

And over in Brazil (e.g. Rio) there are 108 people shot dead every night. Every Week. Every Year.

Makes Iraq look like a peaceful beach resort in contrast.

[Rome2000]

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
References

* South Africa’s Nuclear-Related Facilities
* 26 km W of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa, 12/30/1991 @ terraserver.com

Pelindaba Nuclear Research Center
25°48’S 27°54’E
The AEC designed and produced the initial nuclear device at Pelindaba. A second device in late 1979 at Pelindaba but it was suitable only for use in a test. The only criticality test for the HEU core was conducted at Pelindaba. Facilities at the Pelindaba complex also included facilities for machining high explosives (HE) for implosion weapons and for related testing and firing. AEC personnel continued advanced weapons design research at this facility for the remainder of the duration of the nuclear weapons program.

The AEC continues to operate the SAFARI-1 research reactor within the confines of a nuclear license by the Council for Nuclear Safety and with a mainly commercially directed focus. SAFARI-1 is a 20MW Materials Test Reactor of the tank-in-pool type (Oak Ridge design). It is currently being utilised mainly for commercially oriented projects. Institutional cooperation is low but steadily increasing following a decision to actively enhance this aspect of the reactor’s role in South Africa. This latter role of SAFARI-1 is receiving particular attention while the former serves to offset the costs involved in running the facility.

The SAFARI-1 reactor is supported by a comprehensive infrastructure, including -

* a large inventory of highly enriched uranium
* an MTR fuel manufacturing plant
* extensive hot cell facilities
* an Isotope Centre
* a pipe storage facility for interim storage of spent fuel
* two disposal sites for low and medium-level radioactive waste
* theoretical reactor physics support
* radiochemistry, including radiopharmaceutical research
* radioanalysis

The two most important commercial products produced by SAFARI-1 are fission Mo-99 and the transmutation doping of silicon. The former application is rapidly growing and will contribute significantly to covering the running costs of SAFARI-1 in the future. In the mid-1990s the Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa expanded its Mo-99 production capacity at its Safari-1 research reactor to 1000 curies per week. Other commercial applications relate to isotope production, materials modification, neutron activation analysis and the provision of general irradiation services.

In the late 1990s. to carry out its regulatory control function on safeguards of nuclear materials more cost-effectively, the AEC’s vault of highly enriched uranium for the SAFARI-1 reactor, together with a number of other locations elsewhere in the world, were fitted with Remote Monitoring Systems by the IAEA. These systems allow the IAEA to carry out direct surveillance of any nuclear material store through encrypted direct signals to Vienna.

In 1998 the AEC commissioned its interim retrievable dry store at Pelindaba for spent fuel from SAFARI-1 after receiving the necessary safety and safeguards approvals from the Council for Nuclear Safety and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, respectively. As a result, 120 spent fuel elements were transported from the spent fuel racks in the pool of SAFARI-1 research reactor to the retrievable dry store on Thabana.

[353FMG]

“..Gerber attacked two of the gunmen as they forced their way into the control room and ran straight for the control panel.”

Very brave, but very foolish. Bring something more to a gunfight than just courage. Still can’t understand what Gerber was doing in the control room without being on shift duty. Can anyone just walk in and out of the place? Who were the intruders, what did they want and where was security? The intruders ran straight for the control panel. What did they do after they reached it? Too many unanswered question. Was this just a “dry run” of our ROP citizens?

[OCC]

She declined to say how the gunmen had gained access to the facility or whether they had stolen anything.

That's reassuring. Glad this facility is monitored by the IAEA.

[eleni121]

Pelindaba nuclear facility

Is that on one of Jupiter’s moons?

[maine-iac7]

Doesn't sound overly secure - a boyfriend can go in to sit while his girlfriends on duty? good thing he WAS there - but why wouldn't there an armed guard or three who didn't need an unarmed, untrained body guard - and one has to wonder - just how far DID they get - and what did they do?

It doesn't seem plausible that they just turned and ran away when all there was between them and their goal was a man shot in the chest.

[blu]

OK, I totally freekin’ give. Where the hell is this story from? One guy was shot in front of his Monatana home....but none of the other names ring any kind of bell.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

bookmark

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Pelindaba is regarded as one of the country's most secure national key points. It is surrounded by electric fencing, has 24-hour CCTV surveillance, security guards and security controls and checkpoints.

In other words, it was an inside job.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

sitting in the control room with his fiancée Ria Meiring

So much for security. If you work there, they'll let you bring in anybody. Sounds like a disgruntled employee brought in some friends to wreak a little havoc.

[burzum]

Unless you have detailed knowledge about how a nuclear power plant works, pressing buttons on the consoles will probably only scram the reactor. Disabling safety systems would require somebody who had detailed knowledge of the electronics of the power plant—and it wouldn’t be done in the control room. There is a way to cause core damage in a reasonably short period of time (an hour or so), but I’m not going to discuss how. Needless to say, it would have to be an inside job and you would need to take complete control of the power plant for longer than 5 minutes to do so.

[rdl6989]

I wonder if the shooter’s name is Mohammed?

[VOA]

bump

[bd476]

The details in this story are chilling yet bring to mind further as of yet, unanswered questions. The South Africa nuclear energy group NECSA's legal advisors are threatening to seek court order to block further publication of the story.

Is security at Pelindaba so lax that anyone with access to the local fire brigade's ladder could have gained entry?

What damage was done to the control room?

What was stolen from the facility?

Was the South Africa nuclear facility an open, easy terrorist target?

Was this a clever breach of security?

Was this an inside job or ...?

From the article:

• "...The shooting comes four months after Necsa's newly appointed services general manager Eric Lerata, 43, was gunned down...
  
  
• ...Pelindaba is regarded as one of the country's most secure national key points.
  
  It is surrounded by electric fencing, has 24-hour CCTV surveillance, security guards and security controls and checkpoints.
  
  
• The attack comes as the country prepares to preside over an International Atomic Energy Agency convention on nuclear safety.
  
  The convention is aimed at achieving a high level of global nuclear safety via safety related technical co-operation; establishing and maintaining effective defences in nuclear installations against potential radiological hazards and preventing accidents with radiological consequences.
  
  
• ...A visibly shaken Gerber (Necsa emergency services operational officer) ... said that he was sitting in the control room with his fiancée Ria Meiring when he heard a loud bang.
  
  Meiring, who was working nightshift, is the supervisor of the control room...
  
  
• It is believed that the attackers gained access to the building by using a ladder from Pelindaba's fire brigade and scaling a wall.
  
  The men are thought to have forced open a window by pulling out several louvers..."
  
  
• ...Necsa spokesperson Chantal Janneker confirmed the attack.
  
  She declined to say how the gunmen had gained access to the facility or whether they had stolen anything."
  
  

[MindBender26]

>>>>”A case of armed robbery and attempted murder are being investigated,”

This was not a robbery. They ran for the control panel, not the cash box.

[billmor]

“A case of armed robbery and attempted murder are being investigated,” he said.

So um, breaking intoa secure nuclear facility is not a crime ?..or attacking an official S.A. Federal worker- no federal charge there ?...Trespassing and causing damage on the grounds of a Federal facility ?.....either the reporter missed some info or the police report overlooked a few ‘small’ items...and some security—protected by louvers ?...Excuse me ?

[SwankyC]

Pelindaba is regarded as one of the country's most secure national key points.
It is surrounded by electric fencing, has 24-hour CCTV surveillance, security guards and security controls and checkpoints

It is believed that the attackers gained access to the building by using a ladder from Pelindaba's fire brigade and scaling a wall.

hmmm, One of the country's most secure facilities....foiled by a DAMNED LADDER!

Does anyone else see the problem here.

[NRA2BFree]

Those Amish sure do get around don’t they?

[AFPhys]

This story is of major importance if it is even mostly accurate.

[Wiz]

ping