• L '- ' • I A EC REPORT ' • · ISRAELI REACTOR Sl'TE 60-3 December 9 1 1960 r T a I ThJa doeament ODDllalll of £ pagq No _ L_ of Coples Serfu Li __ AEClReport 60- 3 ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION INTELLIGENCE REPCilT Deoember 2 1260 '' ISRAELI REACTOR SITE NEAR QEP WHA FQREWARP Intelligence Reports are published in areas of special interest to cognizant divisions only They are supplementary to material appearing in the AIC Intelligence Review Each Divisi O ' l Director Bhould establish procedures for th routing of Intelligence Reports to those of his staff whom he considers to have a requirement for such information Upon completion of routing reports may be retained or destroyed without report AF C The classification of the Report is that appearing on the cover and each page This publication may not be rgutad to other tbM AEQ government eerr99pe1 withgut the express permission Intelligence in each individual case or the Director or THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANillG OF THE ESPIONAGE LAWS TITLE 18 U S C SECTIONS 793 AND 794 THE TRANSMISSION OR REVELATION OF ITS CONTENTS IN ANY MANNER TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS PROHIBITED BY LAW t e o -d I harles H Reichardt Director of Intelligence pEcl ASSIFffD _ IL __ ' Author ily_ w 4t l l J iL _________ _ I a eltB stwuiORN- AECIReport 60- 3 I§RW WPi m SITI M ftP WN The following report updates the item an the •Israeli Reactor Site Under Construction ' which appeared in the November 17 AEC Intelligence Review and is based on all information available as of December 7 1960 Recent information confirms that Israel is engaged in construction of a nuclear reactor complex in the Negev near Beersheba A number ot interpretations or the function of this complex are possible including research plutonium production and or nuclear ele tric power gene ation Israeli statements and other sources indicate that the Israelis have been building a nuclear power reactor However the secrecy surrounding the p -oject suggests that the complex is intended for the production of weapon-grade plutonium whether or not generation of electric power is involved Recent statements by the Chairman of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission indicate that a 10-20 MW heavy water research reactor is being constructed The possibility of these activities occurring sinllltaneously is evidenced by two distinct construction areas about 1500 feet apart One area clearl7 includes a reactor containment building in an early stage or construction In the other area construction is much more advanced and includes ext nsive support facilities · • ' ' We have extenlllive evidence that France is supplying plans materials equipment technical ssistance and also training Israeli personnel Since there is no large scale native source of uranium are and no evidence of a uranium metal plant we believe that the French are also supplying the reactor fuel elements It has also been reported that the Israelis have obtained about 20 tons of' heavy water and possible other assistance from Norway Ii' Bergman's statements are complete and factual the heavy- water research reactor would be installed in the dome-shaped containment building Such a reactor would utilize appi-oximately 20 tons of heavy w ter and could be similar to the French EL- 3 reactor vith a thermal power of 15 MW However the 100 kva electrical power transmission lines seen leading into the site appear to be too extensive to serve only a research reactor with little plutonium pi-oduction capability Such an assumption is also incompatible with the security of the site and the large scale of the entire project and particularly the large size of the dome-shaped containment building - l - II - PECi ASSIFiEi - Authority_r l 40C l 9 j - J - -- I AECIReport 60- 3 The identification ot a tall cylindrical structure in the advanced construction area is the critical item If this structure is an uncompleted exhaust stack then it· is highly probable that the area contains a large air-cooled French 0-1 type production reactor with a possible thermal power of about 100 MW Operation by mid-1961 appears to be reasonable This premise would indicate that the dome-shaped building is intended for a later reactor of a different type However if this tall structure were a water tank of the type used at the French EDF-1 site then a closed cycle power and or plutonium production reactor would be indicated in the dome-shaped containment building in the second less advanced construction area Such a reactor could be a 100 MW heaV7 water moderated type similar to the French EL-4 or a graphite-moderated gas-cooled reactor with a thermal power as high as 200 to 300 MW and an electrical output of approximately 60 MW • The potential plutonium production of the Israeli reactor site under these various possibilities is summarized in the table below We estimate that the most likely or these possibilities is the heavy- water moderated 100 MW reactor no 2 in Table which would produce about JO kg or plutonium per year However neither possibility no l in the table nor no 3 can be presently discounted If the reaearch reactor no 4 in the table 1s constructed as Bergman has indicated it would probably be 1n addition to one or the other possibilities - 2 ECLASSIFIED _ hority_N L j' I llleport S i n8iEM 60-3 POTENTIAL PU PRODUCTION OF Bf WftA REACTOR SITE Possible Reactor Purpose 1 Pu Prod Type Graphite hench CounterPart Eat Date Date of Pu Prod ot Nuclear Power Criticalitz Per Yr Test 100 MW Mid-1961 30 Kg Late •62 G-1 Marcoule 1956 100 MW Mid-1962Mid-1963 30 Kg 1963-1964 EL-4 Brittany 1965 20 MWE 200- 1963 60-90 ltg Late 1963 IDF-1 Chinon 1960 Mid-1962 4 0 Kg 1965 EL-3 Saclq 1955 Thermal Moderated Air-cooled 2 Dual Pur- Heavy 'Water pose Moderated I power Productian Pu 3 It Graphite Moderated Gas-cooled 300 MW 60 MWE ' 4 Research Heavy-Water Moderated 15 MW and Cooled - 3- vv - - -•• 20 30 40 10 I ft I I aoal 1D • • •' l' I a aebao - ' J i I - I I j t - ·11 ----- -11-I j I pECLASSIFJED tA Lti L Authority- l 4 _J ' tJ oJ I b I Cf l 0 r I r I °' '