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P.O. BOX 582 PRETORIA 0001Tel.: 31 6--4222ISOTOPE 321047 SATelefax 79 1515

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ATOMIC ENERGY CORPORATION OF SOUTH AFRICA LTD

ENQUIRIESOUR REF HUB900/01/02YOUR REFDATE 15 February 1990

The MinisterMineral and Energy Affairs and Public Enterprises Private Bag X9079CAPE TOWN8000

ATTENTION: Minister D J de Villiers

Dear Minister De Villiers

PHASING OUT OF THE RSA’S NUCLEAR WEAPONS CAPABILITY

Following the meeting of the ad hoc Cabinet Committee in De Tuynhuys under the chairmanship of the State President held on 22 January 1990, Drs W E Stumpf of the AEC and J L Steyn of ARMSCOR held discussions to define a procedure for phasing out the RSA’s nuclear capability.

I attach two copies of the proposed procedure for your consideration and for submission to the State President for final approval. A decision on which of the three alternative communication channels should be followed, as proposed in paragraph 6.2, would be appreciated.

With kind regards

Yours sincerely

J W L de Villiers CHAIRMAN

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HUB 901/508 FEBRUARY 1990

THE “MANTEL” PROJECTThis document defines the main objective, the general working procedure as well as the control and communication channels for the “Mantel” project.

1. MAIN OBJECTIVE To dismantle the present 5 nuclear weapons devices together with half-completed devices, components and material in an orderly and controlled manner, melt down the highly enriched uranium they contain and store it safely and perform the necessary cleaning operations to attach credibility to the statement that the RSA did manufacture highly enriched uranium but did not undertake the final step of manufacturing nuclear weapons.

2. SECURITY CLASSIFICATIONThe project will bear the classification TOP SECRET at all times.

3. PARTIES INVOLVEDOnly the SADF, ARMSCOR and the ATOMIC ENERGY CORPORATION are involved.

4. TIME SCALEThe final objective must be achieved within 20 months, that is, before 30 September 1991.

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5. CONTROL STRUCTURE

The following control structure is proposed for the project:

STEERING GROUP

SADF Representative Dr J L Steyn, ARMSCOR

Dr W E Stumpf, AEC

EXTERNAL AUDITOR

Appointed by the State President

WORKING GROUP

Consisting of about 6 to 8 senior members of the management of ARMSCOR and the

AEC who were involved in the past.

The STEERING GROUP’s duties consist in the planning and overall control of the project and the formulation of policy for submission to the Govern-ment. The WORKING GROUP’s duties consist in carrying out the detailed planning and control and ensuring that the various actions are carried out.

The EXTERNAL AUDITOR’s duties consist in providing independent as-surance to the Government regarding the orderly progress and final com-pletion of the project.

6. COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

The following communication channels were proposed to the Government:

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6.1 The EXTERNAL AUDITOR reports directly to the State President and also receives his orders directly from the State President.

6.2 The STEERING GROUP could report to the Government in one of three ways. The three alternatives are presented here for a final deci-sion by the State President:

6.2.1 Alternative 1 The representative of the AEC on the steering group (W E Stumpf) will act as convenor of the steering group and, after consensus has been reached by all three members of the steering group, official reporting to the State President will take place via the Chairman of the AEC and the Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs and Public Enterprises.

6.2.2 Alternative 2 The representative of ARMSCOR on the steering group (J L Steyn) will act as convenor of the steering group and, after con-sensus has been reached by all three members of the steering group, official reporting to the State President will take place via the Chairman of ARMSCOR and the Minister of Defence.

6.2.3 Alternative 3 The steering group will not have a single convenor and, af-ter consensus has been reached by all three members of the steering group, official reporting to the State President will take place via the respective heads to the respective Ministers.

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All three members of the proposed steering group would find any of the three alternatives acceptable although the third alternative might possibly result in divided accountability which could complicate any auditing action.

7. FREQUENCY OF REPORTING

7.1 Policy matters that require a decision at a higher level will be submit-ted on an ad hoc basis.

7.2 Progress with the project will initially be reported every three months but this could initially be reduced to every six months as operations begin to run smoothly.

J L STEYNSENIOR GENERAL MANAGER : R&D

ARMSCOR

W E STUMPFCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

A E C

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CANDIDATES FOR EXTERNAL AUDITOR

INFORMATION M M M

EXPERTISE H M M

AVAILABILITY M L L

INDEPENDENCE H H H

DR

L D B

AR

NA

RD

PR

OF W

L MO

UTO

N

DR

J B C

LAR

K

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