DEPARTMENT OF STATE ms mam 1 FOR RM USE ONLY CD9 10 LAB XMB RMY SD 333on a g a 4 u I f'el lf 9 4 18 do TO FROM SUBJECT ND 5m 1379000443772 was FEB 17 Pm 1 25 The Department of State 31 ES A on-u - INFO BOIEBE nmnun izi atizz Amembassy TEL AVIV Israeli Program for Nuclear Reactors REF Embassy's A-85 of August 7 1963 and A-l28 of August 17 1962 Rome's 11 115 BEGIN OFFICIAL USE ONLY 1 The visit to Israel of Dr Abraham Friedman USAEC Representative at the Paris Embassy furnished an opportunity to assess the present status and the future plans of Israel s reactor program Dr Friedman arrived on January 2k and departed on February 2 During this time he visited the Weizmann Institute the Tachnion the Hebrew university and the Israel Atomic Energy Commission IAEC installations at Nahal Soreq and Rehovoth He also had two meetings with Professor Ernst Bergmann Chairman of the IAEC An Embassy officer was present during some of these visits and meetings Observations and conclusions are summarized in the following Nahal Soreg The Soreq Research Establishment SRE located on the sea shore about 15 miles south of Tel Aviv is the major IAEC facility now in operation The major equipment item is a five megawatt swimming-pool reactor partially paid for through the USAEC Atoms for Peace program A reasonably large and fUIly functioning laboratory has grown up around this reactor see organization diagram Enclosure 1 Scientists from the Weizmann Institute the Hebrew university and the Technion are making considerable use of the facilities In addition to the research program the SRE reactor is in demand as a training tool for students of nuclear engineering in the Department of Nuclear Sciences of the Technion see below I 6 The research program at SRE appears to be completeg open and classified and is described in some detail in the reports The SRE staff this year includes two visiting Americ Dr Robert M Levy a Reserve Officer in the US Navy and Krieger L- '1th saw sum 31% SECREEF FD Hill _62 05 323 tufted by SAzRTWebberzkad Colone bureau and Classi cation Approved by 1 WBIocklina Actina ECLASSIFIED a alt-fluTutin - J B Button ECON BY _snenee 1 235 r f7 790 00470273 _1 At 577 physicist on leave from the US Public Health Service Dr Bergmann has informed the Embassy that he hopes the number of American scientists doing research at SRE can be expanded An effort is also being made to solicit grants and contracts from various agencies of the American Government Dimona During Dr Friedman s briefing sessions at the Embassy it'was agreed that no effort would be made to solicit an invitation for him to visit the Dimona establishment and no invitation was extended The security restrictions surrounding this project inhibited discussion by most Israeli scientists However ProfEssor Bergmann and Professor Shimon Yiftah Chief of the Nuclear Reactor Program Committee of IAEC volunteered some comments on Dimona They stated that Dimona was intended strictly as a research reactor with a power of 2h megawatts that construction was well advanced and that completion could be expected in late l96h or in 1965 Dr Bergmann concluded his state ment with There is nothing to see at present in Dimona When it is finished I promise to send you a personal invitation to come see it Technion The Israel Institute of Technology Technion in Haifa will unquestionably serve as the major training center for reactor technicians and en neers now in very short supply in Israel A training program was started 25 years ago under the direction of Associate Professor Shlomo Yiftah Chairman of the Department of Nuclear Sciences At present this Department has a staff of six professionals and offers four courses on reactor technology to undergraduate majors in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering It has also started graduate programs leading to the degree 7 students and to the degree 5 students The Department of Nuclear Sciences is housed in very cramped quarters on the old campus The training facilities are quite primitive but include an analog reactor simulator and various types of nuclear instrumentation Extensive use is made of the SRE reactor for the more sophisticated training of graduate students Plans are well advanced for the construction of a $2 million Nuclear Center at the new campus in Technion City about five miles north-east of Haifa These plans include expenditure of $700 000 for two buildings the remainder of the money to be spent for a variety of training equipment including a training reactor probably a Triga Mark II a neutron pulser a sub-critical assembly of natural Uranium and heavy water the USAEC is to be approached for the loan of these materials and a radio-chemistry laboratory A grant of $350 000 toward the cost of the Center has been received from the Sherman Foundation of Wales a British philanthrophy Other funds are being sought The GOI has agreed to match contributions received from private sources Further information on nuclear and reactor research at the Technion will be provided in a separate airgram SEERET 722 The nearly complete lack of fossil fuels in Israel has inspired active discussion for many years of the desirability of constructing nuclear reactors for the generation of electric power An official GOI committee headed by Professor Yiftah and including representatives of the IAEC and the electrical utilities completed an exhaustive study of this question in may 1962 A summary of their report was released to the press on January 1 1963 and a translation of the report into English will be released within the next week or two A brief summary of the considerations and conclusions of the Yiftah Committee based on statements by Professor Yiftah follows Nuclear Power Program In may 1962 the total electrical generating capacity of Israel was under 500 megawatts Generating stations now under construction will raise the total capacity of Israel to about 700 megawatts by the beginning of 1965s Projections of the growth of population and per capita consumption indicate that plans must be made at once for the addition of another 500 mega- watts of generating capacity during the period l965d70 The Yiftah Committee concludes that these 500 megawatts of power should be fUrnished by four stations each of 125 megawatt capacity The Committee then addressed itself to the question of whether one of these 125 megawatt stations should be powered with a reactor It was admitted that the capital cost of a nuclear power station would be roughly twice that of a station powered with fuel-oil and that the total cost of the energy furnished by the nuclear station would be 20 percent or so higher even after account is taken of the lower fuel cost However it was believed that these economic disadvantages might be offset by other considerations including the value of experience in nuclear technology and the reduction in Israel's almost complete dependence on foreign sources of fuel The Committee recommended that the GOI seriously consider proceeding with the construction of a nuclear power station Assuming that a favorable determination is made on this question the Committee then dealt with two other questions the location of the reactor and the type of reactor In considering the possible locations of a nuclear power plant the Committee pointed to the rapid settlement of the northern half of Israel and urged that several appropriate locations be reserved for later use Four possible sites all located on the Mediterranean Coast were proposed The one apparently favored at the present is near Nahal Soreq the location of the SRE laboratories Advantages of this site are its proximity to Tel Aviv the fact that seismic geological and hydrological surveys of the area have already been completed the availability of coolant water and the existence already of an exclusive control of the area The choice of the type of reactor proved less easy and the Committee failed to reach a definite recommendation The final resolution of this question is of great interest as it should give the Embassy an indication of the direction which the atomic energy program of Israel is likely to take during the next ten years The four reactor types analyzed were 1 enriched Uranium light water 2 natural Uranium heavy water 3 natural Uranium graphite moderated gas cooled and enriched Uranium boiling water SEGRET 7 52 r790004 0775 The third and fourth of these reactor types have apparently been rejected on economic grounds Advantages of the enriched Uranium-light water reactor are its lower cost and the fact that Israel could benefit from the very considerable experience of General Electric and others in this type of reactor construction The natural Uranium - heavy water reactor in spite of its higher cost and the relative lack of experience with it in other nations holds out strong appeal to many in the GOI particularly to Professor Bergmann Israel is very anxious to reduce its present dependence on other nations for fuel there is an even stronger desire to avoid dependence on any single nation for supplies of either conventional or nuclear fuel Considerable importance is therefore attached to the existence of low-grade uranium ore in the Israeli phosphate beds presumably near Arad Professor Yiftah believes that the processing of this ore into reactor fuel would not be economically competitive with fuel pur chased on the world market but that in a crisis it could be done END OFFICIAL USE ONLY BEGIN SECRET Israeli actions on the disposal or reprocessing of exhausted fual elements from power reactors will give a clear indication of the nation's intentions with regard to the development of nuclear weapons IAEC officials show great reluctance in accepting safeguard procedures obviously'out of fear of foreclosing this avenue In answer to an inquiry about Israel's plans for reprocessing exhausted fuel elements Professor Yiftah stated that he did not believe that Israel would be justified in establishing the necessary metallurgical facilities at least until several large power reactors were in operation He believes that initially Israel would contract with some fereign nation for these services If this proves impractical the exhausted fuel would be buried for possible later use Professor Yiftah stated that his Nuclear Reactors Committee remains in being and that their next task would be detailed planning of a power reactor at some particular site Ultracentrifuge Research Dr Friedman was informed that the theory of enrichment of U-235 by gas centrifugation was being studied in the Isotope Separation Department of the Soreq Research Establishment Cooperation Between the IAEC and the French AEC In the laboratories visited there was little clear evidence of Franco- Israeli cooperation in reactor research However it was noted that the principal figures in Israeli reactor research seemed to have close and friendly relations with some of the leading French atomic scientists This was particularly evident in the case of Dr Bertrand Head of Foreign Relations for the French AEC who had visited IAEC installations during the week of January 20 1963 is regarded as the number 3 man in the French AEC Comments and Conclusions 1 There is no question that Israel plans to devote a significant portion of its resources to the development of competence in the field of nuclear reactors GOI officials seem to be fully aware of the significance of nuclear -SEGRET - - - F790004-0776 5 7 technology as a means of promoting the nation's economic self-sufficiency The problem of long-term security against attack or blockade also weighs heavily 2 The Embassy believes that the GOI is not making a serious to construct nuclear weapons at the present time GOI officials appear to be confident that the IDF can cope with any armed attack that may be made on Israel within the next wa years They also are aware of the serious de- ficiencies in technology that must be remedied before Israel can participate in either the civilian or military applications of atomic energy and there- fore appear to be directing the nation's atomic program in the following directions The gaining of experience in the construction and operation of reactors and a large increase in the number of men trained in reactor technology Israel now has very few specialists in this field The expansion and improvement of Israel s inadequate skill and facilities for metallurgical research This is an area where French excellence could prove of great value to Israel Further training in American laboratories of many of Israel's leading atomic scientists Professors Neeman Low and Anbar I see Enclosure 1 are planning to spend next year in American universities Professor Israel Dostrovsky who has spent the past 18 months at the Brookhaven National Laboratory is re- ported to be considering another year's extension of his visit 3 If the interpretation of the preceding section is correct the very effective screen of security surrounding the Dimona project seems un- necessary The Embassy believes that this secrecy probably results in part from Israel's acute sense of national sovereignty and in larger part from a firm decision not to foreclose the possibility of a nuclear weapons program should the course of Middle East events make it necessary at a later time This assumed decision will receive a large measure of confirmation if the GOI proceeds with the construction of large power reactors of the natural Uranium- heavy water type while rejecting international safeguard procedures in the processing of the exhausted fuel If the GOI later decides to proceed with a nuclear weapons program the major hurdle to be overcome will be the preparation of adequate amounts of weapon-grade fissionable material Israel has demonstrated competence in the preparation and handling of conventional explosives so the construction of a detonator mechanism can probably be completed without introducing additional delay It is possible that preliminary research on detonator design is already under way END SEGRET ML roe THE AMBASSADOR Jeff 71w an Enclosures 5 420 Robert T Webber 1 Organization diagram of Scientific Attache the SRE UNCLASSIFIED f 2 information on E D Bergmann S Yiftah and W Rottenstein - semis use ONLY 7ZZ Ara 7 Biographical Information Much of the information in this Airgram is based on conversations with Professors Bergmann and Yiftah and with Dr Rottenstein the leaders of Israel's reactor program Biographical material follows Ernst David BERGMANN Born in Karlsruhe on October 18 1903 educated through the degree at the University of Berlin employed as an Assistant in the Chemical Institute of the University of Berlin from 1923-33 came to Palestine in l93h Scientific Director of the Daniel Sieff Institute and the waizmann Institute Rehovoth l93h-52 since 1952 has simultaneously held the positions of Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Hebrew University Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Director of Defense Research for the Ministry of DefEnse At the present time Bergmann normally spends two days a week Sunday and Monday in Jerusalem attending to academic duties the remainder of the time is largely spent in the Israel Def nse Forces compound in Hakirya Tel Aviv He is regarded as a highly competent scientist and an intensely dedicated Israeli and has mastered the diplomatic art of presenting a completely open and frank attitude while actually communicating a very limited amount of information Speaks fluent English French German and Hebrew Shimon YIFTAH - Born in Safed Israel on March 18 1922 educated through the Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering at the Tachnion received his in Physics at the Sorbonne Paris under the guidance of Professor de Broglie in 1958-60 studied reactor physics at the Argonne National Laboratory since 1960 has simultaneously held the positions of Associate Prof ssor and Head of the Department of Nuclear Sciences at the Technion Head of the Reactor Physics Department at the Soreq Research Establishment and airman of the GOI's Nuclear Reactors Program Committee Also reported to be ull Colonel in the IDF At present Yiftah normally spends three days a week Sunday wadnesday and Thursday attending to academic duties in Haifa the remaining time is divided between the IAEC offices in Tel Aniv and the Soreq Research Establishment Regarded as a competent scientist-engineer Speaks fluent English French and Hebrew W ROTTENSTEIN Born in Amsterdam in about 1920 fled to Great Britain in l9h0 graduate education at the University of London leading to the Ph d in Physics taught physics at the Battersea Technical College in London prior to 1958 visiting scientist in the reactor program at the Brookhaven National Laboratory 1958-60 Senior Lecturer and principal deputy to Professor Yiftah in the Department of Nuclear Sciences at the Technion since 1960 Speaks fluent Dutch and English and moderately fluent Hebrew OFFICIAL USE ONLY This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu