Introduction. The availability of uranium, at a time when a number of countries around the world were seeking to acquire nuclear weapons or needed raw materials to support their nuclear projects, quickly made the Republic of South Africa a valuable partner that could sell enough uranium ore to meet the needs of buyer countries. In return, the Republic of South Africa asked for help in developing nuclear energy, which, despite domestic political problems, it received at its disposal. However, this assistance launched a series of events that allowed the Republic of South Africa to make significant progress in studying the entire nuclear cycle, which allowed the country to take a prominent place among states with nuclear programs.

Materials and methods. The study is based on the historical and chronological method to understand the basic mechanisms of the South African nuclear program in the current context of time. The principle of interdisciplinarity is also important, due to which it is possible to consider a number of technical details necessary to explain what was happening in the political and technical sphere within the country's nuclear program. The analysis of the texts was carried out within the framework of the historical approach. The main body of sources consisted of discussion documents and documents prepared within the framework of the UN and IAEA, as well as bilateral agreements between the Republic of South Africa and its partners. At the same time, periodicals were also analyzed. Among the researchers, it is worth highlighting the works of David Albright, who dealt with the problems of creating nuclear weapons and was an IAEA inspector in the 90s.

Analysis. The nuclear program of Union of South Africa / Republic of South Africa became possible thanks to assistance from the United States and Great Britain, which needed cheap uranium ore, which the Republic of South Africa agreed to sell for the provided technologies in mining and a fixed payment. After Eisenhower’s historic speech and the creation of the IAEA, research on peaceful atoms became available to the Republic of South Africa, in particular the construction of a reactor with the help of the United States, the operation of which was also provided with enriched uranium according to the agreement. At the same time, the isolation policy around the country and the power of the Apartheid regime inside pushed the Republic of South Africa to gain independence in providing its nuclear program, without refusing assistance, it continued training its own personnel and experiments on independent uranium enrichment, which bore fruit, but increased suspicion from the rest of the world.

Results. We can conclude that the nuclear program of the Republic of South Africa, supported by the USA and UK, very soon developed into independent research, the country did not want to remain just a raw material base for other people's programs and began its own research in every possible way. This led to an increase in suspicion from the rest of the world regarding the country, and the refusal to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and the inaccessibility of nuclear facilities for the IAEA commission nullified many initiatives of the South African government to prove the peaceful intentions of its nuclear program.