AHVUEIT 2 ms docment consists of 4 No _Lof i Copies Eerie at I u s INSPECTION mm mom or JANUARI 16-20 1961 TEAM WEBB t 11 M STAEBIER ATOMIC ENERGY WSW 1 ARMS comm mm 13W max 3 11 COOK AMERICAN MACHINE AND DECLASSIFIED E0 13292 Sec 3 5 NL-J Bye 12 NARA needy GROUP 1 This materiel contains info tion affecting the national Exi eludedil mwmuc comaxmn DIssm fense of the United States 1 declassifi cation - the meaning of the espionagq BACKGROUND USE om Title 18 11 890 Secs 793 79h the tnanmissigg or re tion of which in any manner unauthorized person is prob by law 5 U s INSPECTION TEAM REPORT OF VISIT To ISRAELI me ENERGY INSTALLATIONS JANUANI 16 20 1961 - I Introduction 62 Mr Moshe GILBOA Ministry of ngense and Professor Ephraim KATCHALSKI Scientific Adviser to the Israeli Premier welcomed the U S group cordially on Thursday evening 16 January 1964 They proposed a tentative schedule for the visit which included the Weizmann Institute and the Nahal Soreq reactor site on Friday and which would provide a full day at the Dimona reactor facility on Saturday The 0 8 group emphasized our desire for an adequate visit to the Dimona site and accepted the proposed schedule provided that we would be able to begin a visit to this facility early Saturday morning At the request of the d S group Sunday visits to the uranium pilot plant at Haifa and to the Dead Sea area were added to the proposed schedule Throughout the entire visit Israeli cordiality continued in a Spirit of complete cooperation The U 5 group spent over eleven hours at the Dimona facility on Saturday and although'it was clearly apparent that an extension of this part of the visit into Sunday would not be possible the ISraelis had assembled three or four dozen personnel at the site and made every effort to display the facility within that time limit The visit continued after dark and I 'some facilities without electricity were examined by flashlight While time and physical endurance did not permit the examination of all parts of every building in this extensive facility it is the consensus of the 0 5 group that the conclusions reported below are a valid reflection of the capabilities of this I facility as they exist at the present time II Summary and Conclusions 1 The reactor went critical on 26 December 1963 but an extensive series of tests is planned and the approach to full power operation will not begin until late in 1961 November-December The fact that the reactor had gone critical did not significantly impair inspection - 2 The other major facilities of the center are complete or will be com- pleted within approximately one year 81 and is'being used for storage While there is no schedule for completing this 3 Construction of the fuel reprocessing pilot plant has been delayed indefinitely This decision is the result of an increase of about 201 in the cost of the center over original cost estimates and of an arrangement with the French which has provided Israel with an initial amount of 150 grams oprlu- tonium for experimental work The concrete cell for the pilot plant does exist plant there still is great interest and a good possibility that a fuel repro- cessing pilot plant will be installed at some later date 4 The center currently estimated to cost approximately $60 million is by far the most diversified and well-equipped nuclear development center in Africa and the Middle East It probably represents the largest per capita investment in nuclear development facilities in the world 5 Facilities now existing and others in initial start-up phases at Dimona coupled with facilities committed for construction at Oran or Oran Israel phosphate mines will provide a capability for making 50 to 60 tons of natural uranium metal per year in 1% to 2 years as a by-product of the phosphate operation This is 5 or 6 times the production rate which would'be required for supporting th heavy water-moderated reactor if operated according to stated plans 6 The reasons given for providing this capability for natural uranium production include the following desire to conserve essentially the full uranium production potential from phosphate operations desire to be self- sufficient represents minimum size equipment commercially available for one process step and their earlier belief that uranium will increase in value 7 The fuel fabrication development facility will have the capability of fabricating a full core for the heavy water-moderated reactor in 2 to 3 months starting in about 1% years 8 The uranium concentrate pilot plant at Haifa is not a significant factor in production capability Total production from the plant since about 1958 has been only a few tons l to 3 and current capability is only about 0 6 to 1 0 ton year It will be displaced by the new plant at Oran cq 9 The reactor was found to be generally consistent with information pre- viously available except that an intermediate coolant loop had been installed because of expected increases in chloride content of available cooling water The actual fuel cartridges to be used in the reactor were inspected The design power is 26 MW with an admitted capability for a 15 to 20% increase operating on only 2 of the primary coolant circuits It was stated that all three coolant circuits could not be used simultaneously a statement that may be true although it appears that relatively simple core and fuel element design modifications would permit operation at the full coolant capacity 10 Present fuel stockpile includes one full charge with a few spares on hand and approximately 10 tons 9 from foreign ores and one from domestic ore in process There is a possibility that the next core could be fabricated at Dimona however discussions are underway to obtain a second core from the French It is expected that fuel definitely will be all of domestic origin starting with the third core 7 11 Fuel now on hand from the French is subject to material control and is committed to be returned to the French 12 It was stated that there is no choice at the present time regarding security controls on the site and activities related to it because of contractor concerns and commitments However this position is to be reviewed when the plant is completed in a year or more and it is quite likely that the plant will be declassified Some of the development work being done there currently is being reported in the literature with credits to the Israel Atomic Fnergy I Commission but without specific reference to this site 13 Discussion of the future prospects for nuclear power in Israel indicated that the relatively small size of plants 50 to 100 megawatts-electrical Huey which could fit into the national grid during the next decade or so made power-on reactors look economically unattractive There is considerable interest in dual purpose nuclear plants for power and desalination of water _ It appears that Mr Mannes ERATT Managing Director of the center may accept our inwitetion to come to the 11 8 to discuss this after-ithe March 196k International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA panel meeting - -- 14 Professor KAICHALSKI expressed interest stated to be completely unofficial in the possibility of undertaking cooperative research and development or in other ways of obtaining some financial support using counterpart funds for example for work at the center In discussing the problems and possibilities of this we noted that their stated plans to use the facilities for training programs for people from new African nations and other developing nations sounded particularly interesting We expressed the opinion also very unofficial that some discussions with the IAEA along these lines might prove fruitful glans for future development programs are being worked out and it is likely that Mr PRAIT will be preparEd to discuss them if he visits the 0 6 Recommendations 1 Further thought should be given to U S action to promote those uses of the training research and development capabilities of the center such as international cooperative programs which would encourage complete declassi- fication of the center and its operation of a training research and development facility at the earliest possible time 2 As long as the site remains classified visits of the type just com- pleted are desirable From a technical view point thg_next visit should be within one year A visit sooner than this certainly could contribute to our knowledge of activities at the site and may be desirable for other reasonsv such as political factors The recounmnded maximum interval of about one year is based on the following considerations by that time the reactor is expected to be at full power fuel material production facilities I l h ugh possibly not yet complete may be more accurately assessed and c52 3 5 25111cy that their fuel production capacity is at a level incon- s 4 sistent planned programs may be more accurately evaluated - '4 61km 3 The next visit should include at least one person with background training and experience pertinent to detailed evaluation of the installations for recovery of uranium from phosphates if 4 The status of operation of the center in about 1 year will be such that it will be more important than ever that the arrangements for a visit permit more than one day at the site A possible acceptable alternative hrs- mm awn umber swA-M would be to have two or more carefully coordinated groups reviewing different phases of the operation simultaneously Also a successful specialized visit in about 6 months may make it possible to limit the scope of the visit in one year so that it can be accommodated in one full day IV Chronological Outline of the Visit 1 The 0 5 team arrived at the Tel Aviv airport at 1730 on Thursday 16 January 1964 As the three team members walked toward the airport reception area they were met by Mr Moshe GILBOA from the Israeli Ministry of Defense and conducted to a side entrance to the airport terminal There in a small side room Professor Ephraim KATCHALSKI Scientific Advisor to the Israeli Premier welcomed the team on behalf of the Premier He outlined a schedule for the visit which included the Weizmann Institute and the reactor at Nahal Soreq on Friday and proposed that the team spend Friday night at Beersheba so that their visit to the Dimona site could begin Saturday morning He explained that this schedule was tentative and that he was prepared to change it to meet the desires of the U S visitors I 2 The U S team emphasized their desire to begin the visit to the Dimona site early Saturday morning and accepted the proposed schedule provided that a full day at Dimona would be possible The team also requested a visit to the uranium processing plant at Haifa and to the Dead Sea area to see the expanding fertilizer production plant there Professor KATCHALSKI agreed to arrange these visits on Sunday He explained that there was no present uranium pro- duction in the Dead Sea area this was only a proposal by the fertilizer company At this point it seemed appropriate to spend both Friday and I Saturday nights at Beersheba 3 Professor KATCHALSKI had arranged a dinner at his home on Thursday evening for the U S team and a group of physicists from the Weizmann Institute He believed discussions with these scientists and the visit to the Heismann Institute would prove interesting and would assist the evaluation of the 5f -5- f 'l - rammw scientific competence of Israel In response to a specific question whether these scientists knew the purpose of this visit'to'Israel he replied that they did not The scientists had been informed that the U S visitors were a scientific delegation visiting scientific installations in the area The team should ask questions about the Dimona facility only of the personnel at Dimona 4 The team was quartered in the Accadia Hotel a resort hotel on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea There were relatively few guests at this season Mr GILBOA had advised the team that I Dr WEBBER U S Scientific Attache desired to meet briefly with the members Dr WEBBER met with the team for 15 to 20 minutes for a discussion of the plans for the visit He had been requested not to meet the team at the airport 5 The guests at the dinner given by Professor and Mrs Nina were Mr Moshe GILBOA Escort Officer for the team Professor Amos DE SHALIT I Chairman of the Physics Department at the Weizmann Institute and Mrs DE After dinner the following scientists joint the group Professor Benjamin Head of the Van de Graaff group Dr Igor TALMI theoretical nuclear physicist Dr H J LIPKIN nuclear physicist Dr GILKAS phonetic mathematician Dr YEKIJTELLI phonetic physicist and Dr Israel PELAH in charge of the reactor at Nahal Soreq The conversation was limited to technical topics of general interest and a discussion of some of the recent research at the Weizmann Institute 6 On Friday morning the team visited the Weizmann Institute as scheduled spending most of the time at the Institute of Nuclear Physics with Professor DE SHALIT as guide Professors KATCHALSKI GOLDRING and GILKAS joined the group for lunch In the afternoon the team visited the reactor at Nahal Soreq mk where Professor acted as guide This 5 MW American Machine and Foundry reactor facility was closed on Friday afternoon and the team met none of the sit personnel The program of this facility is unclassified primarily training and research It is open to fellows from other countries and has some foreign stud sponsored by the IAEA Literature onthis installation waagiven to the team Details of the visit and programs at the Weizmann Institute and at Nahal Soreq a includedin this report in order to devote primary attention to 11561 to the center near Dimona G s 7 On Friday evening the team moved to Beersheba where they were quartered in the Desert Inn a new resort hotel on the outskirts of Beersheba Mr and Mrs Mannes PRATT invited the team to their home for dinner Present were Professor and Mrs KATCHALSKI and Mr and Mrs RUTENBERG Mr RUTENBERG is in charge of Mechanical Engineering at the Dimona site From late 1959 to late 1960 he attended the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology During the discussions- this evening the team first learned that the reactor was already critical No specific comment on this point was then or subsequently made by any member of the team Conversations during the evening also gave first indications of Mr PRATT's interest in water desalination his opinions on nuclear power for Israel and prospects for declassification of activities at Dimona 8 The Escort Officer Mr GILBOA who accompanied the team at all times during the visit had by this time made arrangements for the remainder of the visit He proposed that the team return to Tel Aviv Saturday evening after the visit to the Dimona site and fly by helicopter to the Haifa uranium pilot plant on Sunday morning The team would then fly to the Dead Sea area Sunday after- noon and return to Tel Aviv Sunday evening 9 The visit to the Dimona site was scheduled to begin at 0800 Saturday morning Shortly before leaving the hotel to begin the 45 minute drive to the site the team was advised that the road to the site was flooded and that it would be necessary to wait The delay however was only 10 minutes and the car was able to ford the flood without difficulty Professor KATCHALSKI accompanied the team to the site and throughout the day One of the members of the team asked him prior to departure whether photographs would be per- mitted He replied in the negative explaining that it was feared that they would somehow fall into the hands of the Egyptians 10 The team proceeded to the office of the site director Mr PRATT for a one hour briefing on the site and its facilities Present were Mr in charge of site coordination and Mr D RANEN in charge o public relations Both of these individuals and Mr PRATT remained with the team during the entire visit v 'u f 'l 11 A large map of the site was displayed on the wall In response to a - remark that the team would appreciate a copy of this map Mr PRATT explained that he would be unable to provide one He suggested that if a copy of the map were desired the Israeli Atomic Energy Omission be approached by the 0 8 Government No objections were offered by anyone present when it became apparent that one member of the 11 5 team was making a careful copy In fact with a laugh Mr SIVRONI comented on this and noted that true north was 31 off the line indicated as the site north I 12 Mr PRATT explained that the reactor went critical on 26 December 1963 with part of the initial reactor load supplied with the-reactor The Israelis hoped to fabricate the second load themselves although a second reactor load might be obtained from the same foreign source He noted that the development firm required that Israel have a team of reactor operators responsible for the operation and that a five man team of operators had been trained on a Swiss reactor This team had operated the Swiss reactor without any assistance from the Swiss 13 The Israel electric power grid totals only 600 Me Mr PRATT was now somewhat less optimistic for nuclear power for Israel since it would be difficult to insert large nuclear stations into the national grid and smaller stations 60 to 100 We were not economically competitive Mr PRATT expressed great interest in dual purpose nuclear power plants for production of electricity and desalination of water Southern Israel needs water desperately and the larger capacity plants which such dual functions would justify might make nuclear power economically attractive in Israel at a much earlier date than would be the case otherwise He represents Israel at the meetings in Vienna of the IAEA panel on desalination He is thoroughly familiar with work in the 0 5 on this subject including the Bechtel report He is interested in coming to the 0 8 after the March meeting of the IAEA panel to discuss this work He was encouraged to do so 14 The Israelis desire to produce their own reactor fuel to be ready for nuclear power although it is not obvious when it will be economic They would need a second reactor load for the Dimons reactor approximately at the end of 1965 if went well They expected to get 1000 megawatt days per and hoped to achieve 1200 MED ton Israelis had visited the fuel element production plant op- erated by the fabricator and a cathodic welder has been ordered There is in the no -8- Haifa a uranium pilot plant capable of producing approximately one ton of uranium per year from phosphate rock and they plan'to construct at Oran a uranium plant capable of producing 60 tons uranium per year from their phosphates which contain 1 10000 uranium At the present time they have obtained 20 tons of uranium concentrates from a foreign source 15 In response to a direct question about the source of these concentrates Mr PRATT explained that the source was considered classified adding that there are many facts about this sfte that are classified These concentrates were in the chemical form of magnesium diuranate Mr PRATT said that it would be easy to guess the source since only one country produced uranium concentrates in this chemical form Checks with the AEC Division of Raw Materials since returning i have not confirmed that such material comes from a single source 16 The site includes a uranium metal plant with a nominal yearly capacity of 20 tons of uranium which could process these concentrates to metal They hoped to get about ten tons of uranium metal from the approximately 20 tons of concentrates previously mentioned This would be adequate for a full reactor load This quantity of uranium would be barely adequate to break-in their uranium metal plant Interest was expressed in getting uranium concentrates from various sources in order to keep the plant busy until sufficient concentrates are available from the phosphate operations 17 Mr PRATT referred briefly to the problems caused by the Arab boycott He explained that some foreign firms had severed connection with the project after their section of the work was completed It was necessary now to maintain strict security practices He hoped however that it would be possible to open the facility next year when the work was completed The site included a hostel with a capacity for 40 people and students could be housed there There is also a 24 room hotel on the site It was stated that these housing facilities were due to their plans to use the plant for training - including people from other countries - such as the new African nations In response to a question whether U S personnel could be permitted to work at the site under the present conditions Mr PRATT replied in the negative I 18 Under present regulations no radioactive waste disposal to the ground was permitted The water table was located at 80-90 meters with impenetrable - 9 - m v - - layers However there were faults in these layers and waste disposal had not yet been authorized He hoped that disposal of some lpw-level waste would be permitted It was stated that the reactor hazards comittee in Israel was very severe at the present time and that construction might otherwise be as such as 30% cheaper 19 The water treatment plant was designed to process water with up to 200 pa per million ppm of chlorides The chloride content of the present site water is 260 and the plant has an excess capacity of approximately When the new wet supply from the Jordan River comes into service site water will contain about 305 chlorides They expressed some concern whether the plant would be adequate for treatment of the higher chloride - content water 20 A11 Israelis seemed surprised when one team member guessed that the site had cost about 160 to 170 million Israeli pounds Israeli pounds 1 us dollar Mr PRATT replied that the cost would actually be somewhat greater than that figure The reactor had cost about 30$ more than the estimate and the site as a whole had cost about 20$ more than the estimate It is concluded that the total cost will be about $60 million - 21 The site includes four water storage facilities Three tanksnof one mil- lion gallons capacity each are associated with the water treatment plant One of these tanks was used for raw water and the other two for treated water In residi-i tion the site had a tall cylindrical water tower of 500 cubic meters capacity 22 The service facilities included a diesel electric power plant 3 diesels of 600 each for the site less the reactor which has its own standby diesel power plant 3 diesels of 1000 each The service building distributes electricity to the site and supplies steam and both industria1_and dry com- pressed air There are four steam boilers - 23 Electric power is supplied to the site from the national grid Dimona and Oran were on the same line although the reactor site has priority The electric sub-station has two 15 000 kva transformers one of which was a spare The site actually uses about 8 770_kilowatts 650 KM of which was supplied to the reactor by one of its own three diesel generators The reactor had three one megawatt diesel generators one of which was always in service supplying 1 about 650 to the reactor -10- may 24 In about two months the facility for handling plutonium is expected to be ready to begin work with the 150 grams of plutonium now on hand By September when the reactor would be operating at a higher power they ex- pected the hot laboratories to be ready to handle and to sample any burst fuel elements 25 There is to be an underground emergency command post at the Medical Center An emergency team of seven men is planned to always be on duty at the site in addition to the regblar operating crew ' The reactor operate on a 24 hour schedule 26 The reactor is expected to be formally commissioned in January 1965 They plan to begin to increase power toward full power about October or November 1964 Foreign technicians would be present at the site until the reactor has been commissioned I 27 The site is surrounded by a single fence at a distance of about four kilometers to mark the exclusion area There is also a triple fence around the immediate perimeter of the center which will be equipped with alarms as security against infiltration The fence is not electrified 28 After the briefing in Mr PRATT's office the team was taken to a room opposite his secretary's office which contained a model of the over-all site and various schedule charts on individual buildings The model of the reactor viewed in the previous visit was said to be no longer available The following run down on status of major buildings was given a The reactor went critical Sunday 26 December 1963 at'about 1530 The critical loading was 47 fuel elements each weighing 50 kilograms or a critical load of 2350 kilograms Brown stains on the fuel elements after exposure in the heavy water caused some delay but experiments have indi- cated no cause for concern Reactor fuel elements will cool for a year or so in the storage pond b Filtration - decontamination - reprocessing pilot plant Filtration - began working in October 1963 Decontamination - not all equipment installed but will be ready when needed Reprocessing pilot plant - postponed indefinitely c Uranium pilot plant - is in initial phases 'of operation First uranium may be produced in February See para 47 - d Waste disposal plant now being tested It will be comissioned by about September 1964 -11- l in e Technology building fuel fabrication - scheduled to be commissioned by end of 1964 Expect to fabricate second core here although discussions also are being held with-French regarding second core E Site services - site electric power system has been comm- issioned Standby diesel power will be completed by March 1964 g Laundry - will be completed within about 8 month h Hot laboratories - alpha-active facility will be completed about March 1 1964 Hot cells in the metallurgical area will be completed by end of 1964 - - I 1 Cold laboratories - commissioned and-in operation for about one year or more 29 Mr NAOT acted as guide in the reactor building He is in charge of the reactor The team was also accompanied bler a reactor theorist who was in charge of the theoretical group Dr PAZY had worked two years in France and had calculated the effects of vertical control rods in a reactor in which the fuel elements-were'horizontal The reactor experimental facilities include eight vertical channels in the graphite for isotope production each capable of holding 20 sample units two rabbits a 2 2 meter thermal column a biological irradiation facility 0 5 0 5 0 5 14 radial channels 6ibr instruments 4 tangential channels one central channel 150 nun in diameter 20 experimental positions in the core for irradiations located within the lattice _positions - each of these channels can handle 1 KW of heat generation The radial channels may be cooled with a 002 gas system having a capacity of 8 RN or by a water systen with a capacity of 20 kW A 150 m time-of-flight facility is also planned to extend to the north of the reactor building 30 Operating schedule calls for a one to one-and-a-half year irradiation of the first core to achieve 1000 to 1500 This cycle will begin in January 1965 It was stated that the first load must be returned to our friends who also require that each fuel unit be controlled a long chart is used to record these control data The reactor charge is a little more than 8 tons for 26 MW There are 166 fuel elements with five 10 kilogram slugs per element Thermal flux is 5x1013 n cmzsec in the moderator at 26 MN The fuel slug is 35 6 unlin diameter and about 50 cm long The uranium contains 0 52 Mo The surface has a helical thread with a pitch of about 5 unland a height of about 1 mm The aluminum can is pressure fitted with gas and is not bonded The fuel is similar to that used in EL-3 except that it does not have a hollow center The coolant tube has an ID - 48 6 mm and an OD - 51 6 mm - 12 - V 31 There are 11 shim rods 7 safety rods and two fine control rods The cold clean reactor has 8 47 excess reactivity xenon and thermal effects are estimated to account for 3 4% of this excess reactivity There are six control circuits two linear with compensation two linear without compensation and two logarithmic The reactor will have an automatic start-up capability The reactor reflector is about 110 cm thick of which about 80 cm is graphite - and 30 cm heavy water Th tank is 2 56 in diameter The core is 2 20 in diameter There are 166 fuel positions arranged hexagonally There are also 20 control positions and 25 experimental positions located in the centers of fuel lattices and useable interchangeably There are three positions for the measurement of water height I 32 Mention was made of plans to irradiate Thorium in the experimental positions in the core it has been calculated that 250 kilograms of thorium may be irradiated in these channels for the'production of U-233 This would use 4 1 excess reactivity and leave 1% excess reactivity for other purposes 33 There is a burst slug detection system a water temperature thermocouple and a water pressure monitor on each fuel position An emergency fuel element cooling system will bleed water into each elment from the top reverse flow which should be effective even if the reactor vessel is ruptured and the heavy water lost 34 Reactor heat removal The reactor has three loops in its primary coolant circuit Each loop is designed for removal of about 13 MW with a coolant flow rate of 4 3 meters sec on the fuel surface and a temperature rise of 12% through the core inlet - outlet The heavy water passes upward through the fuel element on a coolant pass and returns downward on a moderator pass One of these three coolant loops is considered a spare It was stated that the reactor power might be increased 15-20% using two loops but that it would not be feasible to operate all three loops at the same time because the pressure would lift up fuel elements A cement from the team that design modifications could fix that led only 30 couments that the flow was already pretty high At design power the maxim heat flux is '80 cal cmz sec and the central fuel temperature is calculated to be -13- 81 35 In addition to the primary circuit of heavy water the reactor heat removal system includes an intermediate circuit of demineralized water and a raw water circuit to two cooling towers The intermediate circuit was added when projections of chloride content in cooling water were increased Each of of the three circuits has three pumps with the following ratings Primary - 900 cubic meters hr per pump Intermediate - 1400 cubic meters hr per pump Fine 7 1600 cubic meters hr per pump Each of the two cooling towers is conservatively designed by the Israelis for 15 MW at wet bulb temperature The reactor shield is cooled with carbon dioxide gas with a maximum flow of 13 500 Kg hr - normally the flow rate is 2 3 of this The moderator blanket gas is helium 36 The reactor fuel storage pond is quite extensive Estimated dimensions 40-50 feet wide 80-100 feet long depth 10 meters given There are two_storage cells side by side separated by a concrete wall with a water gate The first cell is equipped with two racks each capable of holding one reactor fuel load A passage from these first two cells runs past underwater examination and experi- mental facilities to a larger cell the full width of the pond which is to be used to store disassembled fuel elements which have cooled down somewhat All in all the storage pond is probably capable of holding about six complete reactor loads plus some additional capacity were the experimental facilities converted to storag as well The experimental facilities includedmiusembly equipment equipment for the examination of fuel elements and slugs and gamma irradiation areas The following is a crude sketch of this facility 3 or 4 Individual Cells Capa 40-50 To Rack Reactor - Individual Cells - 100 z --14 - OREIGN DI 37 The cold laboratories are divided into a chemistry laboratory area an analytical chemistry area and a metallurgical area Typical problems in the chemistry area were electrochemical reduction of HNO3 for waste disposal studies studies of selective membranes for production of uranium from phosphoric acid purification of heavy water deuteration of ion exchange resins and studies of the corrosion of alundnum in heavy water In the analytical chemistry area equipment for infra-red apalyses of heavy water and a Jarrell Ash mass spectrogra were noted Personnel in these two chemical areas included phonetic EPSTEIN phonetic and MULCANEY phonetic 38 Dr BAR OR showed the metallurgical area In this area are conducted studies of uranium oxides and nitrides x-ray weld inspection bonding'methods electroplating of nickel uranium grain growth aluminum corrosion and pyrometallurgy This facility has constructed a few uranium metal fuel slug samples machined with the helical thread and pressure canned in aluminum These samples were thermal cycled to destruction A number of these test samples were displayed probably totaling 50 to 60 kilograms of uranium Dr BAR OR displayed scientific publications being prepared for publication without an indication that Dimona was the site of the work He plans a paper for the 1964 Geneva Conference At this point in the visit it became apparent that it would be impossible to complete the visit before darkness and the already brisk tempo speeded up considerably 39 The hot laboratory contains hot cells a radiochemistry area an analytical chemistry area and an area suitable for the handling of dangerous 'alpha-active elements such as plutonium Mr PALLAS and were associated with this facility 40 The hot cells are to be used for fuel element examination There are three cells each roughly 10 feet deep by 15 feet wide These cells are capable of handling 10 kilocuries of activity but they are not gas tight None of the experimental equipment was installed nor were the windows in place The cells are individually roofed although the roof slabs were not in place The partition between two of the three cells could be removed There is a conveyor running between the cells within the shielding Small radioactive objects could - 15 - f 'l be brought by truck into a closed compartment at one end of the line of hot cells removed and inserted into the first cell through a small hole approximately a foot in diameter in the sidewall Larger objects could be inserted into the cells by removing the ceiling shielding slabs The hot cell area was equipped with cranes suitable for this purposes The hot cell areas are well compar'hnented to prevent the spread of radioactivity and are associated with changing and wash-up areas for Gompletion of this facility is estimated for the end of 1961 1 1 In addition to the three major hot cells there is a large room with a half dozen or more cells built of lead brick for handling material with lesser amounts of acitvity 1L2 The radiochemical area of the hot laboratory contained equipnent for the preparation of radioisotopes for the tagging of compounds with radioactive atoms conventional radiochemistry and agamma cell Two rooms were equipped with lead cells for radioisotope production and two rooms contained glove boxes for the radiochanistry 1 3 Analytical chemistry in the hot laboratory included spectroscopy alpha beta gamma measurement sample preparation and gas chromatography This was one of the fastest trips in the visit I M The facilities in the hot laboratory for the handling of dangerous alpha- active substances -- plutonium for example was very well equipped with glove boxes containing a wide variety of equipment This facility was compartmented from the rest of the building with its own change and clean-up areas The filters serving its ventilation system were separate from the ventilation system for the rest of the building Imong the equipment noted were are furnaces conventional furnaces x-ray equipnent chemical facilities heat treatment and metallurgical equipment Experiments will be performed with plutonium from the l50 gram quantity now available Apparently the amount in use in any room at one time will be limited to 20 grams Mr ERMT commented that the plutonium was in his custody Scheduled start of operations in March 1961 seems reasonable on the buis of the current status 'gf f 'l n WW 15 Hr summar- phonetic was associated with the waste disposal facility This facility will handle all of the radioactive waste generated at the Dimona site -- and waste from other parts of Israel as well Since waste disposal to the ground or the atmosphere is prohibited at present all waste must be con- centrated and stored The facility can handle some hundreds of cuties It can treat 500 to 1000 cubic meters month containing up to 1 milli-curie liter It uses evaporation and precipitation for concentration of the waste In two steps the waste are concentrated from 10$ solids to solids There are a total of five storage tanks Two buried tanks each of 500 cubic meters capacity are located on the south side and close to the building 'Jhese tanks are capable of holding the water from one compartment of the fuel element storage pond should it become contaminated through a fuel element rupture In such a case it would be necessary to dump the contents of that cell into one of these 500 cubic meter tanks aree other buried tanks located to the north of the building have s capacity of 800 cubic meters each 1 6 'Ihe decontamination and filtration facilities are located in a large building to the west of and adjacent to the reactor building this facility supplies ventilation to the reactor building the waste disposal building part _of the hot laboratories and the uranium metal production plant Team not certain of this building The air returning from these facilities is filtered with absolu t filters before release to the atmosphere Ihe building also contains extensive facilities for the decontamination of equipment This facility is capable of handling items approximately some 5 10 feet in size and is equipped with cranes with capacities around 10 to 15 tons Decontamination will be carried out by personnel not be remote control although there is a glassed in observatior point at one corner of the room This area is equipped with change and clean-up I areas for the personnel The building houses the meteorological facilities but these were not visited The building also is the site of the radiochemical fuel reprocessing pilot plant which was to have a capacity of one kilogram of uranium per day the team was advised that this facility had not been constructed and that there were no present plans for its construction 'mie cell for this pilot plant does exist however the space is being used for storage This cell was shown to the team -- as a space behind steel doors some 15 feet high The space behind the doors was completely filled with boxed and crated equipment so far as it was possible to see 47 The uranium metal production plant is capable of processing uranium con- centrates to uranium metal in the form of 80 kilogram ingot The wet processes dissolution and raffination are followed by dry processes conversion of the uranyl nitrates to U03 to U02 and to UF4 The latter is reduced to uranium metal with calcium Nuclear grade uranyl nitrate is produced in pulsed columns using They hope to produce the first ingot in July 48 The uranium metal production plant now has a load in process This load stated to be 9% tons of nuclear grade uranyl nitrate at this stage of its pro- cessing resulted from the processing of the 20 tons of uranium concentrates as magnesium diuranate from foreign sources and a small quantity of UF4 from phosphate rock from domestic sources produced by the uranium pilot plant at Haifa An attempt to elicit the total domestic production of resulted in considerable confusion Dr J LAVT the chemical engineer in charge of the plant spoke rathe halting English Under cross examination by two members of the US team he gave the design capacity of the Haifa pilot plant as 3 tons of uranium'per year and stated that it was built in 1958 The implication that some 15 tons of uranium fr domestic sources might now be available seemed to agitate Mr PRATT the site director and he joined in the cross examination During a rather confused dis- cussion it developed that Mr PRATT disagreed that the Haifa pilot plant ever had the capability of producing 3 tons uranium per year He admitted that Mr LAVI ha designed the plant but attempted to get him to admit that the actual production capability was much lower Mr LAVI pleaded ignorance of the actual production capability since he was no longer associated with the facility but finally used a' figure of about 3 tons as the total production from the plant Mr PRATT rather dramatically stated that he had on his desk'a letter from the fertilizer firm which offered to supply 1% tons of uranium presumably per year and he expressed doubt that they could do it Further discussion revealed that production of urani from the phosphates contaminates the product phosphates with a smell that makes them unsuitable as cattle feed Thus the uranium pilot plant must be shut down whenever phosphates for cattle feed are produced NOTE The figure of 9% tons - 18 - - uranium as uranyl nitrate presently in process from both foreign-and domestic sources was given subsequent to this discussion and'after an opportunity for consultation It was of course impossible to verify this figure since the tanks displayed were large in volume the calibration of content indicators was unknown and the uranium concentration in the solutions was known only from Israeli statements 50-60 gm U liter in the technical grade uranyl nitrate from the first stage processing 49 The plant is now sperated on a batch basis with one crew moving from process to process It requires 145 days to process a batch containing approxi- mately ten tons of uranium to the metal thus the batch process capability of the plant is about 20 tons of uranium metal per year This process proceeds as follows It requires 40 days of one-shift per day operation with the crew to convert ten ton of contained uranium to technical grade uranyl nitrate and 40 additional days of continuous operation to process the batch to nuclear grade uranyl nitrate 3 silicon and 0 3 boron in the next section of the plant Forty more days of one-shift operation are required to convert the uranyl nitrate through the oxides to uranium tetrafluoride A final 25 days is required to reduce this same ten tons of uranium from the UF4 to the metal in one-shift batch processing 50 The maximum capacity of this plant if operated on a continuous basis is about 50 to 60 tons of uranium metal per year The design size of this plant was determined by the capacity of the smallest commercially available furnace for the production of Name plate data from this furnace is given below 7 - Manufacturer RIPOCEE Address 8 Rue Ferris Paris 11 Type 60 Power 15 KW It was stated that the specification of this furnace identifies it as the 106 Three of these furnaces were installed One as a spare one for the production of 002 and a third for the conversion of U03 and U02 to It was understood that the latter furnace was in the production chain -- that the production of 002 was used as part of the feed to the furnace to insure complete conversion to A second reason for the selection of 50 tons of uranium metal per year as the maximum capacity of this plant was stated to be the desire to match the anticipated production of uranium from the Oran phosphates which were estimated to be capable of yielding 50-60 tons of uranium per year when the expanded phosphate plant at Oran is'complete - 19 - 51 The technology building which is intended for fuel fabrication development and production was without electricity It was now about 1900 and Idark These facilities were examined in the dark with the aid of a few flashlights and not all of the building was visited Flexible partitions had been erected and a considerable quantity of equipment was in place but most of it not yet firmly mounted The facility has two crucible units for an induction furnace each cap- able of handling the 80 kilggram ingots produced by the uranium metal plant Among the items of equipment observed during this flashlight inspection were two uranium lathes two heat treatment furnaces uranium surface treatment equip ment and two vacuum furnaces All equipment observed was new and apparently of excellent quality In response to a question the Israeli in charge of the shops estimated that it would require about 1% years to acquire the knowhow then the facility would be capable of producing the fuel elements required for a full reactor load approximately 8 tons in two to three months i e a yearly pro- duction capability of about 40 to 50 tons of completed uranium fuel elements The status of the facility is consistent with the schedule to be in concussion by the end of 1964 Therefore if all goes well it is quite possible that the seennd core for the reactor could be fabricated there 52 The team now returned to a part of the cold laboratory building which had been omitted earlier in the day The facility was the radiochemical separation process development area and included small scale experiments testing processes an equipment with cold chemistry techniques One of the items under development was a small mixer-settler unit about 8 to one foot wide by 1-15 feet long and one foot high which was stated to be capable of processing some 500 grams of uranium per day The Israeli displaying this equipment seemed somewhat surprised_when asked what the rather large area about 50' 50' with a 20 foot ceiling would be used for now that the radiochemical fuel reprocessing pilot plant would not be constructed It appears that the decision not to construct this facility may not be widely known in the site as yet and that the development of separations processes and equip- ment will continue A glass shop and an area for training operators of remote umnipulators for the hot cells_were also part of this building but were not visited -20 a f 'l 53 At this point the visit to the Dimona site terminated in a brief fare- well gathering in Mr PRATT's office All present were tired but still cordial The day had been cold and rainy the facilities covered extensive and spread over an area about 1 2 1 3 miles It is worth noting that Professor KATCHALSKI Scientific Advisor to the Premier and Mr PRATT the Site Director had accompanie the team all through the day All facilities requested were displayed and at no time was there any evidence of an attempt to interfere with or to influence the activities of the team The Dimona reactor site is an extensive facility All buildings and all- parts of every building were not visited Within the limiation that the visit be completed on Saturday a restriction made clear by Mr PRATT I late in the day when he indicated that an extension of the visit into Sunday would not be possible this visitwas as comprehensive and thorough as the time per- mitted Among thefacilities not entered were warehouse and garage buildings about 10 some not complete the medical center incomplete the laundry complete the service building apparently complete and the hostel complete - containing theoretical physics section and a small computer It is probable that a significant fraction of the technological building wasnot visited no electricit but no reason to believe that the part seen was not representative 54 Professor KATCHALSKI confirmed in response to a question that the Dimom site is under the Israeli ABC Professor BERGMAN is chairman of a conmittee to develop a research program for the reactor and associated facilities I 55 By the time the visit to Dimona was finished it was too late to proceed to Tel Aviv directly and the entertainment arrangements made by the lsraelis had to be cancelled The team dined with Mr PRATT Professor KATCHALSKI and Mr in Beersheba and returned to Tel Aviv well'after midnight In the hotel elevator they were joined by Dr WEBBER the 0 5 Scientific Attache who desired to report progress to Washington A brief description of the events- of the day was delivered to Dr WEBBER mostly in whispers in a corner of the room He had been hept in- formed of progress during the day and already knew 'approicimately when the team left the site - 56 On Sunday morning the team met Mr GILBOA and proceeded to the Tel Aviv airport where s military helicOpter with a crew of four waited to convey they to Haifa At the offices of Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd the team met Mr A GOLDBE - 21 - i f 'l i y o the Managing Director of the plant Mr GOLDBERG a chemical engineer trained in England had started this plant in 1947 He reviewed the history of the potash plants in Israel near the Dead Sea and the mining of phosphate ores near Oran The latter deposit selected for exploitation by th- even though it is not the best has yielded two million tons of phosphate rock since 1952 The phosphate mines ship approximately 80 000 tons of phosphate rock per year to his fertilizer plant at Haifa This is processed to produce single super phosphate gypsum triple super phosphate sodium tripolysulphate and dicalcium phosphate The uranium pilot plant was constructed by the Israeli AEC It is now rented for one Israeli pound per year by the chemical fertilizer plant The chemical works now uses about one-half of the building for the production of industrial chemicals The uranium pilot plant may be operated only when the phosphates are being processed for purposes other than cattle feed The solvent extraction used for the recovery of uranium contaminates the phosphate product with traces of butanol The smell is barely perceptible to a human with a good nose but the cattle refuse to eat it The uranium produced is sold to the Israeli ABC The plant has a maximum capacity of about one ton uranium per year Its actual production is about 600 kilograms per year Its total production was stated by Mr GOLDBERG to have been about one ton of uranium The uranium production is not a particularly profitable process Phosporic acid production is reduced Mr GOLDBERG stated that he would like to get 100 000 Israeli pounds per ton of the U174 produced but was unable to get that much The man technical grade produced by the plant costs about 80 Israeli pounds per kilogram without considering the depreciation of the plight If a larger and more efficient plant were engineered he stated that he could pro- duce at about 60 Israeli pounds per kilogram There would not be much re- duction in cost because it was a tank-type operation with greater production achieved by increasing the number of tanks w_ 57 The team visited the uranium pilot plant It occupied about half of a building approximately 80 160 feet This building was the only building observed on the site- of the extensive chemical production plant for which any security measures were evident The uranium pilot plant building had a fence on which a sign indicated in English No Entry without Authorization The fence and the sign however were several years old The fence was incomplete on one side of the building It was evident that this security measure was not -22- currently in force The pilot plant equipment was small old and corroded The' solvent exchange tank was only about 4 feet wide 4 feet high and about 8 feet long No UF4 was evident Mr GOLDBERG questioned a worker in the building and stated that the plant had not been operated for the last eight weeks because an urgent foreign order for phosphates was being processed 58 Mr GOLDBERG was asked whether the problem of odor was being studied He replied that two men had worked on the problem for the last year without any evidence of success 59 The team then proceeded toSedomon the Dead Sea to visit the expanding potash plant there It was established that this facility is not associated with the production of uranium in Israel and that the phosphate rock deposits in this vicinity are not processed at this location Phosphate rock is mined at the present time near Oran which will be the site of the uranium concentrate production plant with a capacity of 50-60 tons uranium per year as 60 At a farewell dinner with Mr GILBOA and Professor KATCHALSKI the team discussed several further points of interest The phosphate mines at Oran are being increased by about an order of magnitude i e to about 800 000 tons per year The decision to build a uranium plant at 0ran is firm and it will be about 1% years before the plant will be completed ' He did not think construction had started but the schedule seems consistent with a statement by Mr PRATT to one member of the team that ground was broken for the plant on the day of the visit to Dimona This large production of uranium 50 60 tons per year was rationalized by Professor_ KATCHALSKI on the grounds that Israel wanted to be self-sufficient with their own uranium and because they expected uranium to become increasingly valuable He left the impression that the actual level of production is subject to future decisions 61 With respect to the decision not to construct the radiochemical separations pilot plant at this time Professor KATCHALSKI explained this decision as the result of the increased cost of the Dimona site and because the French had supplied 150 grams of plutonium for experimental purposes They had promised additional small quantities Professor KATCHALSKI hopes that the plant will be built in'a year or two because it would be valuable to train personnel -23- f8'l uM-u vM mum 7 62 Professor KATCHALSKI then inquired informally about the possibility of joint BSD projects between the 0 5 and Israel which could help finance the I Dimona research program No commitment was made by the 0 5 side but it was noted that joint projects would be facilitated if the site were opened up It was stated that this was understood and would not be a problem The situation regarding security at the site is expected to be reviewed again when construction is completed and when assisting foreign technicians leave - in a year or so The possible role of the IAEA in assisting development of joint projects and in the training of students from other countries was discussed It was- suggested that Mr PRATT might be prepared to offer some suggestions when he visits the U S 63 The team departed at 0930 Monday 20 January 1964 Departure followed the same procedure as arrival with the team waiting in the small room at the side of the terminal building until the aircraft had been loaded Arrival and departure cards passports and baggage arrangementsvere made by the Israelis V Personnel Met by the Team Moshe GILBOA - Escort Officer Professor Ephraim KATCHALSKI Hebrew-RACE - Scientific Advisor to Israeli Premier Mrs Nina KATCHALSKI - Wife of Professor KATCHALSKI Professor Amos DE SHALIT - Chairman Department of Physics Weizmann Institute Professor Benjamin GOLDRING - Head Van de Graaff group Weizmann Institute Dr Igor TALMI - Theoretical nuclear physicist Weizmann Institute Dr H J LIPKIN - Nuclear physicist Weizmann Institute Dr GILKAS phonetic - Mathematician Weizmann Institute Dr YEKUTELLI phonetic - Physicist Weizmann Institute Mrs DE SHALIT - Wife of Professor DE SHALIT Dr Israel PELAH - Head of reactor at Nahal Soreq Mr Mannes Director 'of the Dimona Site Mrs PRATT - Wife of Mr PRATT Mr RUTENBERG - Mechanical Engineer at the Dimona Site Mrs RUTENBERG - Wife of Mr RUTENBERG Mr M SIVRONI- In charge of coordination at Dimona Mr Y NAOT - In charge of the Dimona reactor Dr A PAZY - Theoretical reactor physicist in charge of theoretical group at Dimona Mr LEVINE phonetic - Cold Laboratory Mr EPSTEIN phonetic - Cold Laboratory -24- 81 Mr MMLCANEY phonetic - Cold Laboratory Dr BAR 0R - Metallurgist in charge of cold metallurgy Mr PALLAS - Hot Laboratory Mr A SERUSI - Hot Laboratory Mr SNEEDORF - Waste Disposal Dr J LAVI - Uranium metal- plant Mr A GOLDBERG- Managing Director of Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd at Ha Mr AMIR - probably associated with the Dimona reactor Mr ADZARI phonetic - probably associated with the alpha-active section of the hat laboratories Mr D RANEN - Public relations at Dimona Mr R cvrou Mr R TIBERGER VI General Comments on the Visit l The usual size of the visiting group was eight people plus the scientist actually connected with the facility being visited This group included the thre team members the site director the scientific advisor to the premier the indivi dual in charge of site coordination the public relations man and the escort officer Two or three additional scientists were present at each facility It is apparent that this assembly was somewhat unwieldy in the narrow corridors and stairways of a typical nuclear facility There are both advantages and dis- advantages to this situation from the viewpoint of efficient inspection Were there only one inspector it is probable that the escort group would have remains the same -- thus the inspector is dominated by the inspected and has little free to observe and to ask questions of possibly independent sources _In the preset instance three U S personnel were probably ideal Not too many to prevent the 'observation by each individual of the specific facility or item being displayed yet large enough so that independent but essentially the samepquestions could be asked of different site personnel without appearing to be unpleasantly repetitive 2 The Dimona site is not yet in full operation Thus this one day visit was adequate to establish the principal features of the site Subsequent visits will require more time and perhaps personnel with different scientific interes A single team of three individuals probably the optiumm size for a single group will require at least two days to cover the site Even in two full days it mus -25- - - I not be assumed that a team of three visitors without police powers would be capable of detecting skillfully concealed facilities The scientific competence of the team should cover the full range mining of phosphate rock recovery of uranium production of uranium metal fabrication of fuel elements reactor operatic and research chemical processing and plutonium metal production and fabrication If Israeli political sensitivity remains high at the time of the next visit and only Saturday is available 3t is probably desirable to accept this situation with- out question and request two successive Saturdays with the team leaving the country in the interim This schedule has the advantage that the team will be able to discuss freely the observations made and plan the second stage of the visit without interference from social obligations 3 If only one day is available then two or more carefully coordinated two or three man teams might be able to cover the site effectively The teams would be composed according to the scientific disciplines required to examine a group of specific facilities This technique has a number of disadvantages from both the Israeli and U S viewpoints From the Israeli viewpoint such a visit is probably intrusive and offensive It would no longer be possible to conceal from their own personnel should they so desire that this is an inspection not a visit from the U S viewpoint unless such an inspection were carefully coordinated in advance with detailed briefings and objectives even such an intrusive technique would not prove that the facility was being used only for peaceful purposes It would be possible for the hosts to play each team against the other were the teams not well briefed and firm in their intent and thus conceal or misrepresent areas within the facility 4 Should the evaluation of the data presented in this report or other information obtained subsequently establish the requirement for a future inspection with even greater access it would probably be desirable to have present at the initial planning sessions between the U S team and the Israelis the senior U S official in Israel most directly associated with the negotiations leading to such a visit This official could present to the group the precise terms of the agreement and the U S understanding of the conditions of the visit When the negotiators are separated from the visitors it would probably be difficult to achieve the maximum degree of access should the Israelis have agreed only re- luctantly to accept the more intrusive visit 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