Apparently, one of South Africa’s nuclear plant has recently been the victim of an attempt to breach its security.
On the same night last week that four robbers shot an emergency officer at Pelindaba, West of Pretoria, another attempt was made to bypass the nuclear site’s security.
The site’s outer security perimeter was breached in both incidents, SA Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) chief executive Rob Adam disclosed today.
An emergency services officer was shot and wounded by four armed robbers who slipped through the electric fence on Thursday night.
At more or less the same time, a patrolling security officer spotted intruders at the western section of the Necsa site. Shots were fired and the intruders fled.
It bears keeping in mind that South Africa had nuclear weapons at one point in time and then destroyed them. The Times of South Africa speculates that the goal of the attacks may have been to seek research on those weapons:
But there may well be invaluable research and data stored at the facility on the process of producing weapons-grade nuclear material at Pelindaba.
It is highly unlikely that the “military-style” gang which attacked the facility was merely after the computers for their paltry resale value.
They must have been seeking whatever intelligence they knew to be on these computers.
Regardless of the reasons for the attack on the nuclear site, this is a troubling situation. Hopefully South African authorities can track down the perpetrators soon.
