The National Nuclear Regulator revealed that a Russian nuclear cruiser was denied entry into Cape Town harbour because it failed to provide an independent safety assessment.

The cruiser was due to dock in Cape Town next week but nuclear ships need to comply with certain requirements before countries allow them into their ports.

The regulator’s Gino Moonsamy explained, “We went through the application and there were basically four areas that we were not comfortable with in terms of compliance. This safety assessment with the docking of the vessel on South Africa’s territorial waters had not been provided by an independent Russian regulatory authority.”

Eyewitness News