{"id":645180,"date":"2026-05-05T07:59:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=645180"},"modified":"2026-05-05T08:01:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T06:01:05","slug":"the-world-renowned-south-african-nuclear-facility-that-supplies-critical-cancer-medicine-globally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/science\/645180-the-world-renowned-south-african-nuclear-facility-that-supplies-critical-cancer-medicine-globally.html","title":{"rendered":"The world-renowned South African nuclear facility that supplies critical cancer medicine globally"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pelindaba in the North West is home to one of the world\u2019s most commercially important nuclear research reactors, which contributes 20%\u201330% of the world\u2019s critical supply of the molybdenum-99 radioisotope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The facility sits about 40 minutes from Pretoria, near Hartbeespoort, and houses South Africa\u2019s SAFARI-1 research reactor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAFARI-1 turned 60 years old in 2025, after first achieving criticality on 18 March 1965 at the Pelindaba nuclear research complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reactor is operated by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), the state-owned company responsible for South Africa\u2019s nuclear research and technology development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Necsa\u2019s commercial subsidiaries include NTP Radioisotopes, which relies on SAFARI-1 to supply radiation-based products and services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NTP is a major global supplier of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), a parent isotope used to produce technetium-99m for nuclear medicine scans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technetium-99m is widely used in diagnostic imaging, including cancer, cardiac, and other medical procedures, where doctors need to see how organs and tissues function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NTP also supplies other radioisotopes, including iodine-131 and lutetium-177, which are used in nuclear medicine applications, including cancer diagnostics and treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to NTP, SAFARI-1 is operational for about 300 days a year and is one of the most highly commercially utilised research reactors in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It produces about a quarter of the global demand for Mo-99 alongside other radioisotopes, but the proportion can vary depending on outages at similar facilities globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pelindaba\u2019s setting was unusual for a nuclear technology hub. NTP described its headquarters as being housed in the heart of a nature reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site was once part of a farm owned by renowned Afrikaans academic and writer Gustav Preller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also an occasional retreat for the naturalist, poet, and writer Eugene Marais, a family friend of the Prellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its location in a quiet nature reserve, SAFARI-1 has become one of South Africa\u2019s most important scientific exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1950s, Pelindaba was selected as the home of South Africa\u2019s expanding national nuclear technology programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the complex\u2019s distinctive concrete buildings date from this period, including the SAFARI-1 reactor building designed by Pretoria architect Brian Sandrock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name Pelindaba comes from the isiZulu expression \u201cphelile indaba\u201d, which means \u201cend of discussion\u201d or \u201cwe will not talk about this anymore\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legend goes that an elderly farm labourer uttered the phrase after plans to develop a township on the farmland were abandoned in the 1920s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 1969, the phrase was adapted for the apartheid government\u2019s secret uranium enrichment plant, Y-Plant, also known as Valindaba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valindaba meant \u201cwe do not talk about this at all\u201d, reflecting the secrecy surrounding South Africa\u2019s nuclear weapons and enrichment programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That history gives Pelindaba unique global significance. South Africa remains the only country to have voluntarily dismantled its atomic weapons and ended its nuclear weapons programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The enrichment plants were later decommissioned, decontaminated, and dismantled after South Africa signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pelindaba also gave its name to the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, known as the Treaty of Pelindaba. The treaty opened for signature in Cairo on 12 April 1996 and came into force on 15 July 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAFARI-1 research reactor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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SAFARI-1 reactor core arrives during the construction of Pelindaba<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SAFARI-1 is a 20MW tank-in-pool, high-flux research reactor. Unlike a power reactor, it is not used to generate electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When SAFARI-1 was commissioned in 1965, it initially operated at 6.67MW using highly enriched uranium (HEU)  fuel procured from the United States, and soon ramped up to 20MW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A decade later, political pressure and international sanctions reshaped its history, as the United States stopped supplying fuel for SAFARI-1 in 1977.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This forced the reactor to operate at 5MW and only on weekdays for many years, limiting its output but extending its eventual life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To ensure Pelindaba had a sustainable source of fuel, the South African government approved the construction of Valindaba, a facility where the country would produce its own weapons-grade uranium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Locally manufactured medium-enriched uranium fuel was supplied for the first time in 1981, allowing continued operation under restricted conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NTP said SAFARI-1 came under pressure to justify its expensive infrastructure and operating costs during South Africa\u2019s democratic transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists and engineers who had developed and operated the facility argued that peaceful nuclear applications could make an essential contribution to democratic South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, NTP said many batches of radiochemicals were produced using enriched uranium that had once been contained in South Africa\u2019s nuclear armaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Move away from weapons-grade uranium<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Panorama showing Pelindaba East, the former Valindaba<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since 2009, SAFARI-1\u2019s reactor core has been fuelled entirely by low-enriched uranium (LEU), which NTP said made it the first commercial reactor in the world to successfully make the conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regulatory approval for the commercial production of Mo-99 from LEU target plates was granted in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs of December 2015, more than three-quarters of target plates used in the production of medical radioisotopes have also been made with LEU targets,\u201d NTP stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat made SAFARI-1 and NTP pioneers in the commercial production of all-LEU radioisotopes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAFARI-1\u2019s importance has prompted work on a successor. Cabinet approved the Multi-Purpose Research Reactor project in September 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Necsa said the new reactor would eventually succeed SAFARI-1 while continuing isotope production, irradiation services, beam-line facilities, and research capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It announced in February 2025 that it had secured approval from government, as well as R1.2 billion in funding, for the design phase of its multipurpose reactor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

More Pelindaba and SAFARI-1 photos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Pelindaba nuclear research facility in Hartbeespoort. Photographer: Richard van der Spuy \/ Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Pelindaba in the North West is home to one of the world\u2019s most commercially important nuclear research reactors, which supplies 20%\u201330% of a critical medical radioisotope worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":645203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31750],"tags":[94945,47538,29438,94949],"class_list":["post-645180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-ntp-radioisotopes","tag-nuclear-energy-corporation-of-south-africa-necsa","tag-pelindaba","tag-safari-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645180"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":645285,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645180\/revisions\/645285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}