Advena
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The South African nuclear weapons production facility, having been transferred in 1979 from the Pelindaba nuclear research center to the state-owned Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor), was later developed as the Kentron Circle facility. This facility, built in 1980, and located 20km west of Pretoria, was subsequently renamed Advena.
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[edit] Nuclear family
At Pelindaba, mini nukes of the gun-type design were developed. Armscor established a production line there in 1981 and produced at least one nuclear device of a 10-18 kilotons yield each year.
[edit] Extended family
Advena Central Laboratories were constructed in the mid-1980s to extend South Africa's nuclear capabilities from gun-type weapons to inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) delivery platforms. Work to produce advanced warhead designs was also developed. Working with Israel at Advena, a 2000 km-range missile – based on the Jericho II ICBM – was designed and tested. The construction of Advena was completed at the same time as South Africa's nuclear program was terminated in the lead-up to Nelson Mandela's election in 1994.
[edit] See also
- South Africa and weapons of mass destruction
- Vela Incident
- History of South Africa in the apartheid era
[edit] External links
- Advena/Kentron Circle
- Blast from the past: Lab scientists receive vindication
- South Africa and the affordable bomb
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