S. Africa May Have 12 Nuclear Bombs: Report

South Africa’s white-minority government may have built as many as a dozen nuclear weapons which could fall into the hands of a “radical ruling faction” or be used by terrorists, according to a study released today.

The frightening prospect was raised in a report on the global spread of nuclear weapons issued by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The report was prepared by Leonard S. Spector, an associate at the private organization, who told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that “recent developments are profoundly troubling.”

Spector’s report reviewed developments around the globe which could lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

One of the most threatening situations is South Africa, Spector said, which has a large natural store of uranium along with the ability to enrich the material to bomb-grade status. He said the country probably has been able to build atomic weapons for six or seven years.

‘Reason for Concern’

“In view of past South African activities indicating an intent to develop nuclear arms, there is reason for concern that between mid-1985 and mid-1986, Pretoria used this capability either to add to its stocks of nuclear-weapons material or, if it has indeed decided to build nuclear arms, to add several weapons to an undeclared nuclear arsenal of perhaps a dozen bombs,” Spector said.

As the black majority in South Africa struggles for control, the report said, there is the possibility that atomic weapons “might fall into the hands of a radical ruling faction--black or white--which might use or threaten to use them to advance extremist objectives.”

“Should domestic order crumble,’ the report warned, the weapons or the components of weapons could be a prime target.

In another finding, the report said Israel may have acquired enough nuclear weaponry “to level every urban center in the Middle East” with a population of over 100,000.