• • SECRET - · _q No UNITED STATES of 2 -- Copies 8- lrlea __iJ_ ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION WASHINGTON ZS 0 C Mr John T Conway Executive Director Joint Committee on Atomic Energy Congress of the United States APR 13 1965 i - JI ltVff 1' we-fJ •_· V Dear Mr Conway By letter of Fegruary 6 196 you were advised of a visit to the reactor site at Dimona - Israel by a three-man team of experts Attached is the report of a recent visit to that site by Ulysses M Staebler Atomic Energy Commission Clyde L McClelland Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and Floyd L Culler Jr Assistant Laboratory Director Oak Ridge National Laboratory The visit at the Dimona reactor site on Saturday January 30 1965 lasted approximately 10½ hours As in the case of the visit in January 1964 all of the facilities at this site could not be visited in one day Although the visit was conducted at a rather fast pace resulting in less detail than desirable it _is the consensus of the group that the visit provided a satisfactory basis for determining the present status of activity at the Dimona site Princip l concluBionB reBulting f'rom this visit a re l There appears to be no near term possibility of a weapons development program at the Dimona site 2 The site has excellent development and plutonium production capability that warrants continued visits at intervals not to exceed one year NOT REl EASA8U i TO THE PUDLIC WITHOUT FURTHEi RE VIEW SY D£P'-RTM£N't' •C oi EN'i RGY OFFICE oi CLASSIFICATION °' __________ j AUTl·IOfU Y DOE•DPC DY R E 0 BRIEN OlllTS ·y 1 - 'nm materlal ntaln1 n 'ormatlon r diocUnq Iha GROUP 1 national de er so of the Un - d S at 11 wl n Ille E eludec I from autom -tl meaning of he espior a 1 la v Tille lll U S C downgrading and declassification NW# 38431 SECRET DocI d 31971043 Sec 783 and 794 the lrcu llmlls11fon or revohtlon Q an WJauthorized pe111on of which in Y manner ls prohibited by lqw 8358 - ' 'lll li ' SEGRET Mr John T Conway 3 - 2 - Although there still appears to be a general intent to relax or remove the tight classification on activities at Dimona the timing for such a change appears more uncertain and less likely to occur in the near future than e x pected f'rom discussions during the visit a year ago Sincerely yours ' ' L- -r ---- er t Sll _- - --1 J'---- Howa rd C Brown Jr Assistant General Manager for Administration Enclosure Trip Report NW# 38431 • SECRET Docid 31971043 0 0 -- Tl Ji t ocumeni ro of CO l 1irJ 3 7 Y-l'w• 2 h _ CopiC I Sorlcii IJ_ March -17 1965 ----------- REPORT ON VISIT TO ISRAELI ATOMIC ENERGY INSTALLATIONS January 27-31 1965 r I i NOT R5LEA GAElL i TQ THI PUBLIC WITHOUT l'URTttE REVIEW BY DEf ARTM-EN L' OF EN·ERGY OFFICE C AESIFICAT ON AIJ ' · - - DOE· l C 1 N Q' °' -lt R °' __ To II ' 'd I 8358 oom llo d wnp rncllng and ccla ilicatio 1 I f H1r nu t il iu t- contain a informntiol' a ffoi ting th i n-cti jn 1I rlc£cn1 c ·of t11c Unib rl ·st t es within Lh hu nr ini_ - of t h i Ullh i nngc l nv t ri'it1c 181 U S C 8 ciJ• ioa 'nild 70·4 t hc t °-llii ni lon or rt• •r lal nfi 1 i U NW# 38431 Docid 31971043 '4 t i i a 6' lU u u wu i 1 01 1nauu h 11l 1 1oc o tW n Q - Ji I ug t 1i INTRODUCTION 1 · Professor Igal TAI MI designated by the Prime Minister of Israel as his representative and Mr Moshe GILBOA Escort Officer during the 1962 and 1964 visits met the team at the airport at 1830 Wednesday 27 January 1965 In the schedule presented by the Israelis the visit to Dimona Site was scheduled for Saturday Tue team asked that the visit to Dimona begin Friday afternoon but was advised on Thursday evening that this would be very difficult to arrange tesm accept the proposed schedule at the Dimona site on Saturday Professor TALMI urged that the The team spent approximately 10 hours Although a visit to Dimona on Friday and ------- an extension of the Saturday visit into the late evening were discouraged the-Israefis were cooperative and aoxdtal tbroughout the visit and maie every effort to expedite and to facilitate the team's activities f 2 Impressions regarding the future program for the Dimona site naturally reflect the statements of personnel contacted during the visit who are primarily associated with this site However these impressions were supported by statements of Professor TAU I and Mr GILBOA who presumably reflect broader national programs and policies II SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 1 Major uncertainties exist regarding the fu ure direction of atomic energy development in Israel These were stated to be primarily the result of the US-Israeli desalting project There appears to be an assumption that the desalting project will resul in Israel getting a nuclear power and desalination plant at half price or less This has resulted in decreased interest in support of development of natural uranium fueled reactors ithiu Israel £or the near term 2 The national water company MEKOROT has assumed the dominant role in the desalting project and the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission appears ' of the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and to obvious concern on the part of tlie Director of the Dimona Center · - - - sr0 rr · NW# 38431 • • This has lead to the resignation not accepted to have little if any influence Doc rd 31971043 N Q I i r nr 11• i Ll 0L1 ·1 3 t Construction of the uranium recovery plant ass·ociated with the phoophate works has not yet been started ' Discussions regarding such a plant are still in progress but a firm deciaion to build the plant has not yet been made The plant now being discussed would be located at Arad rather than Cron with a capacity 12 to 30 tons of uranium per year 4 The fuel fabrication piant at Dimona uranium metal to canned subassemblies was placed in standby condition on January l 1965 and operation is not expected to resume for at least one year based on estimated fuel requirements for the reacto -----5 • - The metal recovery plant also is being shut down The first stages of operation the wet processes were discontinued in November 1964 Processing of the present stock of materials will be completed by mid-Y arcb 196S and the plant will be placed in standby condition- at t at time The Director of the Dimona Center said that it was indefinite when or if the plant would be retumed to operating condition 6 The reactor started a three month demonstration or acceptance run at design power of 26 MW on December 7 1964 Operation at 32 5 MW was acknowledged to be possible within the original hot spot temperature limitation 7 Integrated power on the reactor at the time of the visit was approximately 1700 megawatt days about 200 MD ton average Two fuel· elements were removed at ab Ut 65 MD Tin order to insert two elements made The reactor is loaded with 167 fuel elements containing 8 3S tonnes in Israel of natural uranium alloyed with 0 5% Mo 8 Tbe team made-1an effort to account for all of the uranium at the Dimona site and was able to make an approximate material balance for about· 25 tonnes both by examination of records and by partial physical count 9 There still are about 40 foreigners at the site · including about 18 at the reactor _ThE 'f ill stay u til· everal remaining construction and testing jobs are finish 4 which may be 6 months or more -Principal jobs NW# 38431 Docid 31971043 ------·----··- Q -3mentioned were installation of auxiliary equipment in the fuel storage pond and repair of 10 co 2 blowers for the reactor's experimental facilities There was little evidence of immediate plans for experimental use of the reactor even though the design power test run should be completed within about one month This is at least partially rationalized by the fact that blowers and other equipment for the test facilities will not be ready for several months 11 There has been no approval of a research and development program or of a budget for the fiscal year starting April 1 1965 A program was prepared by Professor BERGMAN but has not been approved An R£D budget of 5 million Israeli pounds has been requested by Mr PRATr--he has only been advised that he will get less He is very pessimistic about future support and even talked of the possibility of having to sh t down the reactor · Total cost of running the center would be approximately an additional 26 million Israeli pounds 12 Questions regarding procurement of uranium f om other countries-were ruled to be outside the scope of this visit It was suggested that such questions be taken up through normal diplomatic channels Mr PRATT and Professor TAI MI denied any knowledge of such arrangements This information was passed on to the U S Ambassador who plans to await further instructions from Washington 13 Plant security has been incr_eased by inst llation of perimeter lights and an electric fence--reportedly the re ult of sabotage activities around the Jordan River project 140 There is no evidence of further activity on plutonium extraction from irradiated fuel However some basic work is now in progress in the extensive plutonium research facilities using 56 grams of the 150 grams of plutonium available to them from the French one of the rooms in the bot laboratories with reactor fuel samples '• _ _ · •·I c n r nq - • · # 38431 · --- - i - DocI d 31971043 Also it was stated that two small lead shielded 0 1 - • lr ' rn 0 ' • ·· -·· ·•·· -4III CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS l As for the visit last-year not all facilities could be visited in one day at t It was necessary to curtail sometimes discussions of research projects 1n order to complete the minimum requirements for the visit The Israelis made it clear that they would not favor an extension of the visit into the late evening Although the pace was fast and the visit not as detailed as desired it is the concensus of the team that the visit provided a satis• factory basis for determining the present status of activity at the Dimona sit 2 Although there still appears to be a general intent to relax or remove the tight classification on activities at Dimona the timing for such a change appears more uncertain and less likely to occur in thenear future than expected from discussions during the visit a year ago 3 While there appears to be no near term possibility of a weapons development program at the Dimona site the site has excellent developme t and production capability Those facilities now or soon to be on a standby basis could be reactivated on short notice The Dimona site doe not now incl de facilities for the chemical separation of plutonium from irradiated uranium A small chemical separations plant could be constructed however within perhaps two years as an internal modification within an existing building 4 The Israelis now possess at the Dimona site uranium equivalent to three reactor core loadings -an amount adequate to produce on the order of 10 to ZO Kgs ot plut onl um afce 1'2 i_g 2 ye-$ 0£ i 1'1'Adi ari on de pendent upon the irradiation level desired for the plutonium This amount does not include uranium concentrates that may have been obtained from Argentina since November 1963 Approximately half of this uranium exists as fabricated _ _ r'srnncr · _- ' '_ • - · h t i 1 a NW# 38431 I J D 11 % Docid 31971043 J¥ J ¥22 L U fi Jj 0 -5reactor fuel slugs including the finished slugs supplied by the French The fabricated·fuel slugs now on hand should be adequate for normal o eration of the reactor as a research tool for approximately two years ·s Should the Dimona site remain a secret facility the team recommends continued visits by United States personnel at intervals - not to exceed one year A visit in about one year's time should attempt to determine a whether the reactor operating sche4ule 1s indicative of weapons-grade plutonium production b I whether the fuel element production plant has remained on a stand-by basis as now planned c status of areas for uranium recovery from phosphate and d whether there then exists any evidence of the construction of a chemical separations plant of the 11 The visit also should include a brief tour shop 11 area which has not been examined on any visits to date 6· A more satisfacotry resolution of the problems created by the secrecy of the Dimona site would be to persuade the Israelis to expedite declassification of these activities It should be possible to maintain plant security against sabotage without requiring classification of plant activities The recommendation regarding activities in this direction following last year's visit still seems appropriate A specific proposal for research and development support in a given area conditioned upon declassification of the facility appears to be the most promising way to bring pressure in this direction IV CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE OF THE VISIT 1 Professor Igal TAI MI _designated by the Prime Minister of Israel as his representative and Mr Moshe GILBOA Escort orr1cer dur ng • the 1962 and 1964 visits met the team at the airport at 1830 27 January 1965 The schedule for the visit as proposed by the Israelis called for visits to the Weizmann Institute and the reactor at Nahal Sorek on Thursday 28 January and a visit to the Negev Institute for Arid Zone Research at Beersheba on Fridtiy morning· the formal visit woula begin Friday afternoon with a trip to nlie heaphatie futnes Ati Oton the vLett to th i ena site was eohedvlad for _ -i --- NW# 38431 Doc t d 31971043 o ·· 0 -6- Saturday The team suggested that the trip to Oron be deferred until Sunday to permit the visit to Dimona to begin Friday afternoon Professor TAI MI indicated that he thought the same restrictions applied to Oron as to Dimona but promised to investigate this possibility Mr GILBOA indicated that he thought there would be difficulty__ getti lg appJoval to go to Dimona on Friday afternoon because there would still be too many people working there On Thursday evening Professor TAI MI reported that he had been advised that a visit to Dimona on Friday would require informing many more people about the purpose of the visit and urged that the team accept the proposed schedule 2 After the initial discussions in the airport the team was driven to the Sharon Hotel a resort hotel on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea This hotel is near the Accadia Hotel where the team stayed during the 1964 visit met with the team briefly in the hotel Dr WEBBER the Science Attachd After dinner at the hotel with Mr GILBOA the team went to the home of Professor TAI MI at the Weizmann Institute for social and professional discussions with a group of Israeli scientists Present were Professor Igal TAI MI and his wife Dr Mikhail FELD AN a biologist from the Weizmann Institute Professor Benjamin GOLDRING in charge of the Van de Graaf£ accelerator section at the Weizmann Institute Dr David SAMUELS of the Isotope Department at the Weizmann Institute Dr Gide on YEKUTIELLI who was interested in data analysis problems in-high energy physics at the Weizmann Institute Dr Israel PEI AH in charge of the research reactor at Nahal Sorek Mr FRIAR phonetic a graduate student of Professor DeSHALIT at the Weizmann Institute and Mr Moshe GILBOA the Escort Officer 3 The morning of Thursday 28 January 1965 was spent at the Weizmann Institute with Professor TAI MI as host This visit was conducted in a manner somewhat more perfunctory-than the 1964 visit lunch were TAI MI GOLDRING SAMUELS YEKUTIELLI and FRIAR • • NW# 38431 The guests at _ _ • • Docid 31971043 - - - 1111 0 0 -7- 4 The team proceeded to the reactor at Nahal Sorek in the Professor PELAH acted as host afternoon This site now has under construction a hot laboratory for isotope research which will cost about four million Israeli pounds It contains two hot cells under construction which are probably capable of handling 10 000-12 000 curies of activity in addition to less elaborate facilities for lower amounts of radioactivity 5 The Israelis acted as hosts at a concert on the evening of 23 Junuary 1965 6 1965 The team proceeded to Beersheba on the morning of 29 January -- Reservations had been made at the Desert Inn Hotel 7 The team visited the Negev Institute for Arid Zone Research Beersheba during the morning of 29 January 1965 and the phosphate mines at Oron in the after noon The team Professor TAI MI and hosts at a dinner party in the evening Mr GILBOA were the only guests Mr PRATI and his wife acted as At the hotel Professor TAI MI received a call warning him that Mr KISSINGER who had been an adviser to President Kennedy was staying at this same hotel accompanied by two newspaper reporters · TAIMI seemed relieved when informed that none of the team members was personally acquainted with Mr KISSINGER and he reported this fact by telephone 8 The team left the Desert Inn Hotel about 06 15 on the morning of 30 January 1965 and arrived at the site shortly after 07 30 On arrival at the site Mr D RANEN in charge of public relations et the team and informed them that no photography would be permitted Cameras worn openly by two team members were removed and stored in the car trunk The original Israeli schedule for the visit bad provided for arrival at 09 00 - this schedule had been amended during the discussions of the previous evening A typed schedule was presented to the team for discussion This paper in English was marked SECRET dated 28 January 1965 and headed Nuclear Research Center - Negev The schedu 1 e omitted a visit to the uran lum metal rodu tion p l a ri t since tt was partially shut down to the _ · p t NW# 38431 I' - • •• - - - Docid 31971043 • • - • - -- •• · _J 1 't • 0 0 -s- _Jf 4 II j fuel element production plant completely on a stand•by basis and allowed_ one and one-half hours for lunch These two facilities 8re added to the schedule and the lunch period was reduced to one-half hour Many of the V• technical personnel at the site were prepared for lengthy discussions of their projects When Professor TAI MI made it clear during one such program discussion that an extension of the visit• into the evening would not be desirable it became necessary to terminate so etimes rather rudel '· discussions of the technical projects in the of this visit are outlined els where in the report es t' J 7 The results The visit terminated about 18 00 the team departed by helicopter to Beersheba for a brief meeting with Mr PRATT and his wife at their home then by helicopter to Tel Aviv A final meeting with Mr PRATr was requested for Sunday morning 31 January 1965 in Tel Aviv to recapitulate the results of the visit and to clear up any uncertainties The team also requested Mr GILBOA to ask Dr WEBBER to come to the Sharon Hotel Saturday night Mr GILBOA undoubtedly understood this request to be the result of Israeli refusal to discuss foreign procurement of uranium cQncentrates with the team which was·aunounced during the luncheon at Dimona 9 Dr WEBBER visited the team in the hotel late Saturday night In a discussion in bis car the results of the visit were briefly reviewed and he was requested to ask the Ambassador whether the team could help further in I ' resolving the questions related to foreign procurement of anium I ·1 10 The team met again with Dr WEBBER on Sunday morning at approximately 10 30 and were informed that the Ambassador would await instructions from Washington before discussing foreign procurement of uranium With the Israelis He was reported to be prepared to seek additional time at the Dimona Center if the team considered it essential to visit additional buildings but otherwise was inclined to leave things as they were ll Mr PRA'IT Professor TAIM I ·and Mr GILBOA came to the hotel about 11 30 on Sunday morning and reviewed th -visit until approximately 13 00 NW# 38431 Docid 31971043 0 -9- 12 The team made final arrangements for departure from Israel at 18 30 on 31 January 1965 and visited Jerusalem briefly in the afternoon before departure V PROGRAM AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS 1 After the team completed the visit to the phosphate mines at Cron and found that construction of the uranium recovery facilities had not yet begun this deviation from the plans outlined during the 1964 visit was frankly discussed with Professor TAI MI and Mr GILBOA They reported that serious ·uncertainties existed in the Israeli nuclear program which bad tended to diminish the interest in natural uranium and in natural1 uranium reactors These uncertainties were explained as cbe 1esulL of the 7 - -- i n t -- I s ra e i 1 - 0 1M11 c-ed States desalination studies which had caused some circles in the government allegedly including the Prime Minister to assume that the Israelis would be able to obtain a nuclear power and desalting plant with_u s financial assistance for half price or less Since such a reactor under present technology would use slightly enriched uranium and would dominate any nuclear activities in the near future this assumption had ' ' resulted in decreased interest in natural uranium and natural uranium reactor tecbnology--tbe basis on which the Dimona site had been designed The team I· I i was advised to discuss this question with Mr PRATT during the dinner party at his home planned for the same evening Mr PRATT was described as bitter and outspoken about this problem 2 This description proved accurate During the dinner party and in subsequent discussions Mr PRATT described his difficulties as due to the Israeli-u s desalting project and at least in part to the national water company MEKOROT which is assuming a dominant role in that project Apparently this company is large aggressive and seeking new projects now that the national water project is essentially complete Mr PRAT who had been a representative of Israel at previous IAEA panels on desalting in Vienna and who still is NW# 38431 much interested in the subject appea s to have been excluded from Docid 31971043 -• 0 · · · - - - ' f'A1fT ti · _ ·· ·' · · t •• •J • r- n1- f · 0 1 -10- participation in current activities Mr PRATT had never received an invitation to visit the United States he was aware however that such an ·invitation had been forwarded to the Government of Israel as a result of discussions during the visit a year ago One of his phrsicists at Dimona Dr R THIEBERGER had been a member of the original Israeli team He was no longer associated with this project No personnel from Dimona were now involved in the desalting studies The assumption that Israel would get a large enriched uranium reactor at half-price had produced considerable uncertainty about the program of the Dimona site The natural uranium metal plant would be shut down when processing of the present stocks of concentrate was complete mid-March and the fuel element production plant had _akeady been placed on a stand-by basis Mr PRATT had requested demanded five million Israeli pounds for the research and development program at Dimona for the fiscal year beginning 1 April 1965 be had been advised that he would get less He was going to knock on some doors and demand an adequate sum for support of research He acknowledged - that there was little evidence of planning for research with the reactor This was r xplained in part by defective cooling facilities for the • experimental channelss which would be corrected before the· end of the current fiscal year and by the absence of some of the equipment for the cooling pond which might not arri'Ve for 4-5 months He agreed however that some research with the reactor could begin when the current full-power acceptance tests were complete March 1965 but pointed out that he would need more people and instrumentation for an effective research program was a budget problem · This He mentioned the morale problem of getting people to ork in the desert at Dimona explaining that it was not so bad for the men provided that their morale was maintained by an interesting program of research but more difficult for the wives of the scientists He implied that he could not now foresee a research program capable of maintaining the morale of the scientists He mentioned tbe-p oss i'b ility_t t_eve -the_ reactor would have to be shut -down because of in sufficient funds NW# 38431 Docid 31971043 - • 0 0 --11- 3 In a luncheon discussion Dr THIEBERGER confirmed many of these impressions He had been_very_much involved in tbe desalting project and had assigned problems to some of his staff year however these studies had been dropped By the end of the He implied that he had been a strong advocate of a heavy water reactor £or the desalting plant A Progress Report for the Physics Department i963-1964 discussed briefly the experimental program during the start-up and calibration of the reactor•• it does not indicate that an experimental program for reactor research bas yet been developed 4 The Chairman of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission Professor BERGMAN has submitted his resignation supposedly because of the policy and funding problems now being experienced has not been accepted His resignation The research program for Dimona which was outlined by a committee chaired by Professor BERGMAN has not yet been accepted Mr PRATT stated that the Research Council f Isr·ael has become very active Mr PRA'lT believes that the gov rnment officials who would normally correct the present uncertainties ·are now·more concerned with the election Mr PRATI' believes that the 1965 election will lead to the re-election of the present Prime Minister He hopes that there will be·some policy decision with respect to the future of Dimona soon after the election VI MINING AND MILLING ACTIVITY l Since 1951 the Israelis have mined the extensive phosphate deposits near Oron These phosphates are exported or shipped to the Haifa plant of Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd for chemical processing to fertilizers The phosphates contain approximately O Olo uranium pilot plant for the separation of uranium is located at Haifa A This plant has produced-about 3 tons of uranium as UF4 which is included in the materials balance elsewhere in this report During the 1964 visit the team was informed that a substan ial expansion 9f the phosphate mines was planned and that the Israelis also planned-to install chemical plants NW# 38431 Docid 31971043 0 0 -12- for the separation of uranium from these phosphates to produce some 50-60 tons of uranium per year This plant was scheduled for completion in 1-1 2 to 2 years I 2 On Friday afternoon phosphate works at Oron 29 January 1965 the team visited the They were met by Mr BARNOY civil engineer in charge of operations and Mr LEVY civil engineer responsible for the construction of a new rotating kiln train for upgrading phosphate The phosphate deposit was located about 4-5 kilometers from the plant The deposits cover an area about 3 4 Km •·· by 25 kilometers and contain a proved 50-70 million tons of phosphate rock The phosphates are located in an area with an over-burden which ranges from zero to 10 meters in thickness At the present time this over-burden is stripped using tractor-powered scoops There was no chemical plant in evidence at the site for phosphoric acid and super- or tripie phosphate production production _nor any circuit for uranium recovery Mr Levy stated that neither phosphoric acid nor uranium recovery plants were part of the planned installation at Oron Only mechanicaLand therrr al benefication will be done at Oron to raise the phosphate content from 25 to 30-32% as P2o3 3 Mr Levy later confirmed by Mr Pratt and Mr Lavi stated further that a new source for phosphates at a grade-of about 32h had been found at Arad which is 30 miles northeast of Oron Here super- phosphate calcium phosphate and other concentrated fertilizers will be produced and phosphoric acid will be made as an intermediate The construction of the fertilizer plant has started to be completed in about one year but no facilitieB have been au horized £or uranium recovery The Arad plant will have a capacity for production of about 165 000 tonnes per year of superphosphate as P2o5 • From this a maximum of about 30 to 60 tonnes year of uranium could be recovered depending upon yield and portion of the production of rock phosphate upgraded to more concentrated fertilizers through th production of phosphoi ic- acid NW# 38431 DocI d 31971043 · · 0 0 Production of Uranium for Israeli Domestic Phosphates The reserves of phosphate are approximately as follows no uranium now being recovered Site Primary Products and P04 Concentrate as P2o5 6Reserves Tonnes P 2o5 10 Future Proven Estimate 0 3-0 6 0 3 plus 0 7 70 210-700 Primary rock 32% 0 some same as Oron Superphosphate 40% 0 0 165 guess Primary rock 25% Roast-wash 32% Arad 10 3u Reserve Tonnes as P205 ·--Oron ·10 6Tonnes Year Production Proven Estimate 7 21-70 7 21-70 The uranium appears in leach-zone phosphate rock at a concentration of approximately 0 01% 4 The benefication processes used and now being installed at preclude any possibility of recovery of uranium at this site The exis ting mechanical benefication consists of a grinding step which reduces the raw rock to 100 mesh or less The phosphate rock remains at about 100 mesh but the impurity Caco 3 rock is reduced to much finer size Thus a partial separation of the impurity can be obtained by air elutrication which increases phosphates to about 27-28% The new roast process employing a large natural gas-fired countercurrent kiln about 10 1 in diameter by 120' long and subsequent lime slaking-slurry separation will be completed by June 1965 this the impurity CaC 3 is converted by heat to Cao lime the lime is converted by steam to Ca OH 2 slaked lime The resulting dry mix is slurried in water with the result-that the impurity Ca OH 2 is separated A§ a £i suspension from the heavier and larger particle size phosphate fraction Th s there is ·no present possibility of uranium recovery at Oron since neither process includes the necessary acid leach step However the beneficiated product from Oron could be shipped to'Arad for leaching at some future time if there is an all out program £or domestic uran um production - NW# 38431 Docrd 31971043 In 0 0 ' -145 The newly discovered relatively high•grada phosphate deposit a t is soon to become a major producer of phosphates In addition to probable shipments of rock phosphate a plaotwill be installed to produce superphospbate at a design capacity of 165 000 tonnes as P205 per year Construction bas been started under the supervision of Mr Levy not part of Israeli AEC who is also supervising the Oren calcines At the present time no commitment has been made to install a uranium recovery circuit in _this plant However the Israeli AEC has asked for estimates of cost for installing uranium circuit on the superphosphate production cycle in this plant with probable initial capacity of about 12 tonne U year later possibly·20 tonnes year with a maximum of·30 tonnes year Mr Lavi of Dr Pratt's group at Dimona is charged with the responsibility for providing technical data for these cost studies Dr Pratt and Mr Lavi both think that the cost of uranium from this source will be at least $20 to $25 per kilogram a factor of about 1 above the world market price of uranium belief that the circuit will not be installed I '' Pratt expressed the No engineering design studie have been made for a uranium circuit by the Israeli AEC but they have asked for estimates from the groups bidding on the phosphate I mill for uranium recovery circuit costs i The process technology to be used for these estimates is that developed by the Israeli AEC 6 Processes which have been developed and tested for uranium recovery from the phosphoric acid-sulfuric mixture which results from sulfuric acid leaching of phosphate rock are as follows a Solvent extraction with an organic pyrophosphate diluted with kerosene reported in 1958 Geneva and similar co u s work on Florida leach zone phosphates which is stripped by washing with HF solution providing a precipitated hydrous UF4 slurry from which it is difficult to prepare reactor-grade uranium The organic used also carries trace quantities to the phosphate raffioate which is used t produce mono-calcium phosphate supplement to cattlEl feed This organic residuQ provides taste and odor that cattle do not like the feed prepared from this stream will not NW# 38431 ·•·· · Docid 31971043 1· l 0 0 -15be eaten by its intended offended recipients This process was pilot- planted at Haifa producing about three tonnes uranium 1 6 tonnes of which is still stored as UF 4 slurry at Dimona The process will not be used because of difficulty of filtration of product high solvent losses reduction of H3Po4 by iron and generally high iron concentrations in the raffinates which interferes in the production of sodium and calcium phosphate food supplements Electrodeposition cathodic of uranium onto pure b copper cathode from ulfuric acid--phosphoric acid solution Process is difficult it has been tested and-reported· somewhere in the literature 1958 May be evaluated for Ara d study Reference Geneva Conference Paper 1609 Alter Foa Marcus Throcher Gruenstein Lavi Prulov Tulipman Waldman The Electrodeposition of Uranium from Monocalcium Phosphate Solution c A ne leach system selective for uranium on which patents have not yet been obtained but which a Dr Belstein will soon report in the open literature After the selective leaching apparently ·'through combination of acid strength selection temperature control uranium is recovered by ion exchange on IR-400 resin weak base then eluted and precipitated as ammoni llll diuranate Arad study rio pilot-plant work Reference Will be evaluated in yet apparently only lab study·to date · Geneva Conference 1958 Paper 1607 Alter Foa Hadari Peri Throcher Selective Leaching of Uranium from Phosphate Rock b Dilute Mineral Acids d One other ori monitoring future note of the Israeli potential for recovery of uranium The purchase of sulfur or pyritic in much larger quantities than current requirements plus that required for the design capacity of the Arad superphosphate plant 165 000 tonnes year as P205 might indicate a substantial increase in uranium recovery plans NW# 38431 Docid 31971043 0 0 I i r l I -16VII URANIUM METAL PRODUCTION l The first stages of tae uranium metal production plant at Dimona were shut down in November 1964 These stages were the wet Pumps were wrapped in plastic and the floor was clean and processes dry at the time of the visit The balance of the plant will be shut down when the remainder of the uranium stock on hand is processed to uranium metal about mid-March 1965 The production capability of the plant as operated during the last year was indicated by the figures shown on the master plant status board•-a capacity of 25 ingots of uranium metal per month each ingot weighing 80 kilograms I This f yearly capacity 24 meter ic tons tonnes per year agrees well with the capacity given during the 1964 visit--20 tonnes per year for the i l ·j l production schedule outlined in the report of the last visit 2 During the 1964-visit- ---it-was stated that the Israelis hoped to produce the first ingot in July 1964 By January 1965 however they had produced only 50 ingots at 80 kilograms per ingot these figures from the master status board do not include several ingots·still stored f in the metal production plant The production of about four tons of uranium metal aa ingots was turned over to the-fuel element fabrication I plant 3 The metal production plant bas processed or bas in process most of the uranium concentrates received at the Dimona Site These total 20 tons of uranium concentrate as uranium diuranate identical with the same quantity of this material mentioned in the report of the I 1964 visit from which 10 ton5 of uranium have been derived a d a total of three tons of uranium as uranium tetrafluoride from the uranium pilot plant at Haifa Of the UF 4 •£rom Haifa received at Dimona a quantity equivalent to 1 6 tons of contained uranium remains unp ocessed Mr PRATT could not estimate when the uranium metal·pro uction plant would be restarted NW# 38431 He had been informed that be'would not be supplied with Docid 31971043 I l 0 • 0 -17- the team mentioned Israeli orders for foreign concentrates this discussion is reported in Section XII 4 Mr LAVI stated that tbeuraniwn metal plant could produce 20-30 tons per year when operated on a batch process He did not deny the estimate made by one team member that that plant could handle up to 100 tons of urani llll per year when operated on a continuous basis Mr LAVI denied any knowledge of the source of the uranium diuranate which was in process he stated that the material came from the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission The normal operating staff of the uranium metals plant was given as 40-45 men although Mr LAVI mentioned that the plant was now operated by five men 5 At the conclusion of the visit to the metal production plant Mr RATT asked Mr LAVI in English to consider the production of some uranium oxide for an experimental program li I I j j VIII I FUEL ELEMENT FABRICATION 1 I The fuel element fabrication plarit technology building has been on a llstand-by basis since the first of the year The plant received about four tons of uranium in the form of 80 kilogram ingots from the metal plant and has made 161 ten kilogram canned slugs for· the reactor from this material I' The balance of the initial four tons of ingots is stared in the building i The first Israeli canned I fuel slug was produced on 15 November 1964 it is located in Mr PRATT' office in a velvet lined box reject Of the initial slug production 50% were The reject rate at the end of production had dropped to 30 Of this production 85 acceptable slugs were stored in the fuel element production plant together with 65 defective slugs Ten additional good slugs as two complete fuel elements were placed in the reactor in early December before the beginning of the full power acceptance run on 7 December 1964 NW# 38431 DocI d 31971043 i I- 0 2 0 The quantity of slugs to be produced by the plant before shut-down was determined by the physicists at Dimona Mr PRATT asked them to determine the number of fuel elements which would permit operation of the reactor throughout the next budget year until April 1966 The physicists·had calculated that an additional half core loading to permit reloading the ·center zone of the reactor would be required The reactor is loaded with 167 fuel elements containing 835 fuel slugs The French had supplied 1200 fuel slugs The first core loading left · - therefore 365 slugs of French manufacture some of which were defective Israeli production of 95 acceptable slugs provided enough for two fuel elements for testing 10 slugs and 85 other slugs to make a half core load when combined with the unused French fuel slugs 3 The technological building once had a staff of approximately Only 10 remained assigned to this department 40 people Mr PRATT stated his desire to retain the capability to manufacture fuel elements the technicians will not be dismissed but will be used elsewhere at the I I' l t site This building was designed as a production facility it is not particularly suitable for research Mr PRATT could not predict when the facility would be re-activated He had planned its production to permit shut-down for a full budget year bu·t at times also talked of completing fabrication of available uranium metal into fuel cartridges at an earlier date Actual plans undoubtedly will depend upon budget action 4 The Israelis have not yet manufactured slugs of thorium metal although this was a part of the research program discussed during the 1964 visit IX REACTOR OPERATIONS 1 The reactor at Dimona went critical on 26 December 1963 according to information supplied during the 1964 visit· NW# 38431 Docid 31 ' 0 2 April 1964 The initial start-up experiments ran until approximately These experiments included the approach to criticality and poisoning tests reactivity measurements and flux measurements In the poisoning tests an iron wire was attached to each fuel element This load resulted in only about 0 03% excess reactivity and was intended to simulate the behavior of the reactor with a core poisoned by fission products The same test was repeated with only half of the fuel· ele1nents poisoned by an iron ire Criticality was achieved by raising the level o the heavy water moderator Other initial experiments included measurements of the worth of the control rods flux mapping and temperature effects on reactivity The reactor power was raised to five megawatts during runs in June July and August and to 10 megawatts beginning in September The integrated power of reactor operation at these power levels is given below At 5 megawatts ••••• • • •••••••• 315 megawatt-days At 10 megawatts•••••••••••••• 180 megawatt-days An acceptance test at the full power 26 megawatts began on 7 December 1964 This test is scheduled for 3 months of operation at design power As of 30 June the reactor had operated approximately 44 days at full power for a total of 1144 megawatt-days The total integrated power to 30 January 1965 as e·stimated by the Israelis is therefore approximately 1639 megawatt-days for a core loading of 8 35 metric tons of natural u anium or an average fuel irradiation level of about 195 megawatt-days per ton 3 Two fuel elements of French manufacture 10 slugs were removed in early December to permit the insertion of two fuel elements of Israeli manufacture The elements removed had an irradiation level estimated to be 50-75 megawatt-days per ton average and are now stored in the cooling pond · NW# 38431 I' 0 4 0 Eighteen of the 40 foreigners still at the Dimona site are associated with the reactor These foreigners will remain until acceptance testing is complete and until the defects in experimental equipment ha e been corrected been installed and the cooling pond facilities have A bearing burned out in the carbon dioxide blowers for the cooling system on the experimental channels The experimental channels have been removed from the reactor since some cooling is req ired even when no experiment is installed in the channel corrected in a couple of months · This defect will be The facilities for cutting fuel elements in the cooling pond have not yet been received however a fuel element may be cut in the facilities of the hot laboratory The reactor should be complete by the beginning of March although the cooling pond facilities may not be completed for 4-5 months Foreigners will be present at the Dimona site for six months perhaps somewhat longer including those involved with-other--facilities at the site 5 The hot spot temperature at full -power is now approximately 450°c at 26 MW power level may re operated 11 The Israelis are confident· that the reactor easily11 to 32 to 32-i 2 megawatts within the design hot spot limitation of 550°c using only two of the three coolant circuits At this power level the flux should be 6 x 1013 n cm 2 sec They also noted that the power level could be increased even more by adding enriched uranium to improve the flux distribution Reactor operation has encountered a number of problems 6 In addition to the burned-out·bearings in the co 2 pumps for the experimental channels they have had trouble with swelling of the plugs at the top of each fuel element like plywood difficult These plugs contained hydrogen enriched material This swelling made the removal of the fuel elements Fortunately this difficulty was discovered before the problem became serious and it was corrected by turning down the diameter of these plugs Vibrations in c gmpensation rods during pump operation was corrected by changing the plungers to the same design used in the safety rods NW# 38431 The shafts for the fans on the cooling • - - 0 at T 0 towers developed cracks from vibration of these fans - •••• -•- '4 _____ - - - - This required a shut•down The reactor was operated without the cooling tower fans power levels up to 10 megawatts The fans were repaired in Israel at an aircraft factory and re-installed before the full-power test- run began Operation at 10 megawatts without the cooling tower fans would be possible only in the winter Operation at·design power was started within about two weeks of installation of the repaired fans The full-power test run was interrupted for a couple of days due to trouble with the diesel generators for the reactors I The radioactivity alarms on the stack once scrammed the reactor due to operator error while the instruments were being calibrated High temperature was observed in the recombiner for deuterium_ and oxygen during the rise to design power The ' difficulty was corrected by raising the level of the heavy water by a few about 5 centimeters therefore may have been the result of insufficient internal recombination The effect is reproducible with change in heavy water level however the reasons are not fuily understood 7 The reactor may not be unloaded or loaded during operation • - It requires one to one and a half hours to remove a rod in the unloading cycle 8 The uranium fuel for the reactor contains 0 51 molybdenum and according to the suppliers• can s·tand 1000-3000 MWD T irradiation Mr PRATT believes that this will represe t 1200 'f -MO T in practice but i· I L will assume an irradiation level of 1500 MWD T to be possible The Israelis plan to approach this level cautiously but stated that they do intend to operate tbe reactor to the maximum irradiation level possible With two-zone reload-ing --and- -the extra half-core now on band Mr RATT mentioned two years as a possible figure for operation before new fuel elements become necessary 9 No research with the reactor ·will be possible until the rea·ctor is complete· and the full power ' i fFF t - Pl • NW# 38431 • •• Doc rd 31971043 -- tests are finished Mr PRATT 0 0 -22- agreed that some experiments could ba started in March if the research programs were approved but he noted that he needs more people and instruments to begin an effective research program•-thus it becomes a ·budgetary problem and he does not yet know the budget allocation for research that will be approved 10 The irradiated fuel storage pond is full of water and the two fuel elements which had been removed were·observed in the pond There are 30 racks each capable of holding 32 elements for a total storage capacit r of 960 elements In addition to the storage space there are cellc for other operations such as cutting but equipment bas not yet been installed 11 Heavy water losses from the reactor were described as being only a few hundred liters It was stated further that most of this is still around in containers X OTHER ACTIVITIES AT THE'WCLEAR RESEARCH CENTER - NEGEV The Dimona Site 1 plant Raw Water Treatment Plant Mr KOPELMAN is in charge of this water is stored in a tall cylindrical tank of 500 cubic meters capacity to provide a head and in one of the three one million gallon 3750 m3 tanks near the water plant The plant produces four types of water a De-carbonated water - 120 m3 hr which is stored· in the remaining two one million gallon tanks These tanks provide a reserve capacity adequate for 4•5 days operation of the site b Soft water for the steam plant - 15 m3 hr c Demineralized water for cooling the reactor - 6- -7 m3 hr d 3 De-silicized water - 1 m hr of rocessed water are stored in smaller The last three types tanks and are supplied on demand services for the site including the water plant NW# 38431 Doc Id 31971043 The team walked through this building quickly It supplies steam compressed air and electricity to the site 3 Laundrv The team checked this building quickly It contains facilities for cleaning and repairing the clothing worn in radiation areas and can process all such clothing worn by site personnel It is now operating at 1 5 to 1 3 capacity rigorous health and safety controls The Israelis have established Even a trace of natural uranium requires processing a garment·as radioactive The waste water from this facility to date has contained so little radioactivity that the waste treatment plant must add natural uranium to assist development of their process tech ology 4 Waste Disposal Plant Mr HAREL is the director of this facility The plant was shown by Mr SHNEIDOR a chemical engineer It handles all radioactive wastes produced in Israel including those from the Weizmann Institute has not been authorized Disposal of radioactive wastes to the ground I' It can handle a maximum activity of 20 I microcuries per cubic centimeter The evaporator is shielded with 17 c ntimeters of concrete and could process some tens of cur ies The plant is designed to handle the 500 cubic meters from one of the cells of the fuel element cooling pond if one of the fuel elements should rupture The waste tanks do not have cooling coils The plant was also designed to receive a minor quantity of fissi n I j products from the planned but not constructed plutonium separation pilot plant These wastes would be diluted before processing f· Mr SHNEIDOR hopes to get a decontamination factor of 10· 5 from the single stage evaporator Last month the plant received 400 m3 of solution from the laundry and the decontamination plant this waste had an activity in the micro-microcurie per liter range · One hundred kilograms of uranium is stored in the waste disposal building This material is used as an additive to test their processes when handling NW# 38431 Docid 31971043 -o 5 0 Ventilation Filtration Decontamination Building is chief of the ventilation section of this building Mr ROZEN Mr ORION is chief of the decontamination section The latter section bas processed· about 100 radioactive pieces to date The building also contains the cell in which the plutonium separation plant was to have been installed latter facility has not been constructed ever be constructed This Mr PRATT doubts that it will The team did not visit the cell which was said to be in use for storage of the filters for the ventilation system There was no evidence to indicate that the radiochemical processing pilot plant does exist at the present time or is planned This building also contains meteorological equipment which is a unit in the national system of meteorological stations 6 a Medical Center and Command Post Dr RONEN a medical doctor showed the medical facilities which are equipped with facilities for treating a few casualties from a radiation accident biologist conducts studies of the local environment Mr RIKLIS a Mr GAL in charge· I' of health physics is responsible for the site-wide health physics ' program He led the visit to the Conunand Post located in the basement and displayed an elaborate control panel on which lights indicate the nature of alarms received from any of the site buildings The person on duty at the Command Post must query the personnel at the building concerned to determine the seriousness of the incident and the corrective action being taken The alarm panel also'shows a representation of the close-in fence surrounding the site with lights which indicate the sector of the electric fence contacted by any intruder The master site map displayed on the wall included a resumd of the current meteorological data for the area obtained from the station at the Dimona site and from the national net of meteorological stations b Master records of all radioactive substances at the· Dimona site are maintained at the Command Post NW# 38431 Docid The team spot checked ' 0 0 -25- these records to confirt11 some of the material balance data obtained orally elsewhere Each sheet of these records contained data on a single type of material located at a specific point for example a separate sheet of the record was maintained for each glove box containing plutonium The records used Arabic nW11erals but the tabular headings were labelled in Hebrew 7 Cold Laboratories Mr RAVI is in charge of this laboratory • Apparently he does net speak English since Mr LEVINE acted as the host during this visit Mr _LEVINE described the main research interests of the group which appeared to be the same those reported for the 1964 visit as Some interesting results were presented from work on stainless steel decladding of uranium with nitric acid using SS as the cathode instead of the anode Mr BAROR discussed did not visit the analytical wing of this buflding the metallurgical program briefly The team This program includes work in- four areas a Physical metallurg1-__ b Development of alloys for reactors c Physical studies of materials under irradiation d Studies of pyrometallurgical extraction techniques using liquid metals He has had one paper published in the Transacti'ons of the American Institute of Metals and a second paper accepted for publication by this journal Work on coherent precipitation preparation of uranium fuel with resultant increase of 30 to 40% in strength at room temperature was of particular interest a• a Hot Laboratory Mr SEROUSSI is in charge of this facility which includes hot cells a radiochemical laboratory a hot analytical laboratory and a plutonium laboratory of the three hot cells NW# 38431 Mr POLES is in charge All three cells ar n complete • One of the cells Docid 31971043 0 t 0 is equipped for cutting fuel elements and similar operations second cell is empty at present he The third cell is equipped for metallurgical studies on radioactive materials Mr POLES displayed a photomicrograph of a metallurgical specimen prepared from 550 YMD T irradiated uranium from France that had cooled for four years He was apologetic about the quality of the photograph which was not sharply focussed but other photos of cold specimens were of satisfactory quality One room is used to mock up hot cell equipment before final installation Another room was stated to be intended for small lead r I brick hot cells for transui-anium work or for work on small pieces of material removed in the larger hot cells The radiochemical laboratory was under the direction of b Mr GVION Mr FARAG'I was engaged in research in radiation chemistry some of which has been published in the Journal of Physical Chemistrx Other facilities included a counting room equipment for work with I alpha-active solutions by Siweon A ADAR who was granted U S Patent 3 136 600 on 15 August 1962 two rooms equipped for work with radioactive isotopes equipment for gas chromatography a glove box room for unshielded work with suitable isotopes not alpha active and a room for c 11 tagging 11 organic substances with radioactive·isotopes In the plutonium wing the team met Mr HADARY who showed three of the four rooms equipped for work with dangerous alpha-active substances such as plutonium were in active use with pl tonium Two of these three ropms the third was being prepared for use The fourth room which was not visited was equipped for reduction of plutonium compounds to plutonium metal wo4 king wi th 56 grams 0£ The plutonium laboratory was the 150 grams of p1utonium received from he French The plutonium was stated to have been made available on the basis that there would be joint French-Israeli planning of the research program using it NW# 38431 he plutonium supplied by the French bas a density Docid 31971043 f • 0 t 0 from 16 8-18 l sm cm3 lesa than the normal density of plutonium• and contains about 6000 ppm of Fe presumably as Fe6Pu received were in the form of wire 4 long Dlnl All plutonium samples in diameter and one centimeter A paper on a special camera for i-ray diffraction bas been accepted by the Journal of Instruments Dr EREZ and will be published in about two months d These plutonium facilities are very complete and are suitable for an xtensive research or small production program r00111 has 9 to 11 glove boxes Each The equipment in the glove boxes is relatively small scale typical of that required for research with small samples It woµld be possible however to equip the boxes with equipment suitable for the fabrication of the plutonium components required for a nuclear weapon e The ventilation wing and analytical wing of this building were not visited by the team 9 Physical Secrui ty and Personnel Control are concerned about the possibility of sabotage The Israelis The site·is now surrounded by a triple fence equipped with lights -- the center fence electrified with a lethal voltage The Israelis also plan to install proximity wiring in this fence and have made arrangements with the military service to provide protection for the site On the last day of the visit 31 January 1965 the team was informed that dynamite for sabotage had been discovered only 25 kilometers from the Dimona site The Israelis have established strict controls over the radiation hazards at the site All personnel are required to wear a film badge which is obtained by exchange of an identification card and to wear appropriate external clothing and pecial Shoes for the rlld a gn a oa n wh h they work XI GENERAL COMMENTS ON THE DIMONA SITE l All facilities should be complete by the end of the budget year 31 March with the possible exception of the facilities at the reactor NW# 38431 Docid 31971043 • t • 0 cooling pond which may not be complete for 4 to S months The site employs about 1 1 300 p ople _The total_cost of operating the facility is about 26 million Israeli pounds per year 1 not including the research budget I There are still about 40 foreigners at the site eighteen of whom are associated with the reactor Some foreigners · may remain for six months or more ·There are no immediate plans to declassify the facility although the Prime Minister has stated that the site will b opened the site There are two reas ns for the restrictions on l the protection of their foreign suppliers against the Arab boycott which must continue until foreign personnel leave the site and 2 the danger of sabotage The Israelis recalled that there had been considerable delay in permitting foreigners to enter the small research reactor at Nahal Sorek and predicted that the Dimona site would remain closed for some time after all site construction was complete i ' When informed by the team that this position seemed less optimistic than the impression conveyed during the 1964 visit Professor TAI MI indicated that· there was no specific reason for I ' the different impression and explained that perhaps he was just less optimistic than Professor KAICHALSKI bad been or possibly less capable of conveying an optimistic impression New construction at the Dimona-site includes an open building ' I· I constructed to the northwest of and adja ent to the Technological Department fuel element fabrication This building is little more than a shelter and is used to store certain supplies and the waste uranium from the fuel element fabrication process There is also new construction in progress connected with north end of the waste disposal - · building reportedly for administrative facilities The construction is in a very early stage the footings were not complete 1 but the preparations did not seem to indicate that hea shielding walls were to be constructed NW# 38431 i• i i l •' ' • • 0 0 t Several construction shacks were located in this area ' Somewhat further away from the north end of the waste disposal building is located an area with a shack where·solid radioactive wastes may be stored XII This area is ·apparently not 'in active use URANIUM ACCOUNTING FOR THE DIMONA SITE The quantity of natural uranium at the Dimona site was checked by inspection of the master accountability log by separate conversations with different ndividuals and by visual evidence where that was possible • - We made a reasonable accounting of the uranium that has been delivered to the fuel complex and the reactor has been received in three forms from three sources UraniUiil clad-metal fuel 1 sub-assembly from France 20 onnes of impure uranium concentrate j' yielding about 10 tonnes U as magnesiU111 diuranate and three tonnes U as UF4 slurry from the Haifa phosp_h _te_ p_ilot plant The following table summarizes our knowledge of the natural uranium balance Fuel Sub-assemblies Source and Form Metric tonnes Uranium 12 1200 France· as sub-assemblies ' 10 tonnes U from 20 tonnes foreign concentrate 10 UF4 slurry from Haifa pilot plant 1 2S DISPOSITION AS OF JANUARY 31 -196S· u Number Tonnes Reactor from Fran e 825 8 25 Storage pond from France Stored for second core ro France 10 355 3 5S 10 Produced from concentrate Acceptable fuel sub-assemblies Test fuel elements in reactor Israeli Stor'ed rejects Metal ingots at 82 kg each Purified nitrate Scrap skulls and slag Impure UF4 slurty from Haifa pilot plant Waste and waste plant storage as me ii ready for fabri a tion 85 10 1 6S 6S s UF4 ready for redu tion U03 and U02 85 '- 41 1 s 1 5 2 5 1 5 1 6 2 24 31 conntao NN# 38431 Docid 31971043 • • 0 0 -30- XIII Estimated Capabilities Neither the total Israeli capability to produce natural uranium nor to manufacture Pu at Dimona is now being used At present I facilities do not exist to produce more than about 3 tonns yr of natural U no capability exists to produce and recover Pu However the potential to enter into these companion efforts is there and could be implemented by installing additional equipment An· estimate L - of this potential follows Total Yearly U or Pu Capability tonnes y Probable Maximum Site and Facility Raw Material phosphate plants with phosphate 0 50-100 I• beneficiation only now 300 000 to 600 000 tonnes yr will go to 1 000 000 tonnes yr with new units which have capacity of 165 000 tonnes P 2o5 equivalent yr@ 0 017 r u Reserves l Proved 70 000 000 tonnes estimated 3 to 10 times this - Arad phosphate plants will have 12-20 30-60 capability to produce phosphoric acid and various forms concentrated fertilizers 165 000 tonnes as P205 e uivalent Will have chemical circuit probably no U circuit but the latter is being studied 500 000 tonnes yr ore@ 017 U Reserves U recovery pilot plant Subtotal'- NW# 38431 · At least equal to Oron Docid 31971043 3 3 25 80-160 • • 0 0 Feed Materials 30-100 depending on feed concentra-tion Dimona 4 concentrate purification wet 3 shifts 0 Di$ona uranium nitrate to uranium he cafluoride 3 shifts 0 90-100 Dimona uranium hexafluoride to metal 3·shifts 0 90-100 Dimona metal fabrication and canning 3 shifts 0 70-90 Note Facilities thru metal fabrication have operated only on l shift day in ·batch sequence Reactor Irradiation 8-9 kg Pu yr core yr Dimona@ 26 MW 85% on stream @ 1 Reprocessing Only empty space available Pu Handling r 0 research quantities 10 gm batch limits· None installed space available for cells no plans Few hundred grams per week with changes required · j 4 rooms equipment and spaces for ' 24-3 ' glove boxes available plus hall Could be converted quickly say I i in 6-9 months No approval has been given for any installation of a U recovery plant Mr LEVINE engineer in charge of the installation of the mono calcium triple and super phosphate complex at Arad started in December 1964 bas no knowledge of any plans for U re overy Mr LAVI engineer in charge of feed materials at Dimona and formerly occupied with U recovery from phosphates stated that the Israeli · Arad which will go through the phosphoric acid stage The Commission in Mr ·PRATT'S opinion is unlikely to approve plant if costs exceed twice the world market price Thus since their and our estimates of the cost of recovery from phosphates is $20 to $25 kg it is unlikely that uranium will be recovered NW# 38431 I ' Atomic Energy Co iaaion haa asked the fertilizer company to prepare cost estimates for recovery of U from that part of the production at rk f This is a maximum possible recovery based on processing all phosphate to recover uranium something very unlikely since considerable tonnage of untreated rock- i s shipped to other cou nt r es from Oren · 'the totai output of O ron is likely to be sold without traai ruenc - DocI d 31971043 ii I' I t •• • 0 XIV PROCUREMENT OF URANIUM FROM FOREIGN SOURCES 1 Concentrates When Mr PRATT stated that the uranium metal plant would be shut down and that no more concentrates were available for processing a member ot the team advised the group TALMI PRATT SIVRONI RANEN that we had noted a trade journal item which reported that some eighty tons of uranium concentrates had been ordered by rael from a foreign source Mr PRATT replied that he was not r sponsible for the procurement of heavy water and uranium these were supplied by the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission TAU-11 Professor also denied any knowledge of this order for uranium concentrates The team indicated that -this was a matter of interest to the United States and requested that Professor TALMI locate an individual with whom we might 4iscuss this question so Professor TAI MI pr ised to do He reported at lunch that he had contacted Mr Moshe BITAN o the u s Chief Desk at the Foreign Ministry who informed him that neither TAI MI nor PRATT could discuss this matter it was outside the scope of the Dimona visit Mr BITAN suggested that·this question be raised through normal diplomatic channels The team indicated some concern one member informed Mr Moshe GILBOA the Escort Officer that it would now be necessary to meet with the American Ambaasador or with the Science Attache prior to our departure from Israel Mr GILBOA arranged a meeting with Dr WEBBER the Science Attache ·SatUTday night after the team returned to Tel Aviv following the visit to Dimona In a meeting in Dr WEBBER's car the team· asked that he discuss this problem with the Ambassador and advise whether the Ambassador desired the team to remain in Israal to assist any approach to the Israelis about the uranium concentrates procured from foreign sources On Sunday morning Dr WEBBER reported that the Ambassador did not plan to approach the Government of israel on this problem at this time but would await instructions from Washington NW# 38431 It should be noted that no member of the team identified the· Docid 31971043 0 0 0 0 country believed to be the source of these concentrates Argentina nor were the price and exact quantity of the concentrates mentioned to the Israelis 2 Procurement of the Second Reactor Core from the French Mr PRATT stated that the Israelis have not discussed with the French the possibility of procuring another core for the reactor He appeared to be satisfied that the facilities at the Dimona site were adequate and would be used for the fabricat onof finished fuel elements This capability had been demonstrated prior to the shut-down of the fuel element production plant 3 Chemical Processing of the First Reactor Core Mr PRATT confirmed that this first core will be returned to the French for chemical processing However he gave the impression that no detailed consideration has yet been given this problem The Israelis have not yet determined the optimUJn cooling time nor have they considered the costs of transporting the radioactive fuel The reactor core load represents a very small batch for a large processing plant they I did not yet know where their fuel would be processed mentioned in the discussion were Marcoule and Mol The possibilities In response to a direct question about the disposal of the plutonium recovered from the Israeli fuel Mr PRATT replied that this was a question of policy He did not doubt that the French would supply additional quantities of plutonium if the Israeli program needed them but under the same conditions as the 150 gram quantity of plutonium already supplied by the French The conditionG were not mentioned it may he however chat the Joint French- Israeli research yrogram on plutonium mentioned elsewhere during the visit would determine the need for additional quantities of plutonium at Dimona When one team member mentioned that a four-year cooling period would reduce transportation costs Mr PRATT acknowle ged that the Dimona site has facilities adequate for such long cooling times however he was werried about the censequenoes of an air attaak and did not want much irradiated fuel in storage at one time NW# 38431 Docid 3197 ' 0 4 0 0 -34- XV THE CRATER HAMAKHTESH HAQATAN On the first two days of the visit the team displayed a casual interest in the geological configurations of the Negev Desert Accordingly the Israelis selected a route to the phosphate mines at Oron which passed through the large crater Hamakhetsh Hagadol This trip provided an excellent basis for low-key questions about the smaller crater Hamakhtesh Haqatan The rim cliffs of this latter crater-are visible from the Dimona site The site map displayed in the Command Post indicated that the exclusion area fence for the Dimona site runs along the west edge of the crater and excludes the crater -At no time did any of the Israelis reveal any sensitivity about the crater nor did they give any indication that it was connected in any way with the activity at Dimona Mr WEBBER said that drilling was known to have occurred in the Haqatan area but no activity was evident at the present time It was not known whether these past activities were associated with construction ' i J plans or general geological surveys I I XVI ISRAELI PERSONNEL MET BY THE TEAM I I The following personnel were met by the team during the visit The list is not complete and there exists some uncertainty about the spelling of the names indicated as phonetic BARNOY Associated with the phosphate works at Oron BA'OR in charge of the metaliurgical section at Dimona DARIEL associated with X-ray diffraction studies in the plutonium program at Dimona DORON associated with the reactor at Dimona ESHEL in charge of the fuel element production plant at Dimona FARAG'I associated with the radiochemistry laboratory at Dimona MIKHAIL ph FELDMAN a biologist at the Weizmann Institute FRIAR ph 1 a graduate student at the Weizmann Institute GAL in charge of health physics-at Dimona NW# 38431 Docld 31971043 lI I I o 4 0 • 0 -35- Moshe GILBOA Escort Officer Benjamin GOLDRING in charge of the Van de Graaf£ group at the ·· Weizmann Institute GVION in charge of the radiochemical wing of the hot laboratory at Dimona HADARY in charge of the plutonium wing ·in the hot laboratory at Dimona HAREL in charge of the waste disposal building at Dimona KEINI ·in charge of the services department at Dimona I KOPELMAN in charge of the water treatment plant at Dimona J LAVI in charge of the uranium metal production plant at Dimona LEVY ph projact officer for the calcination plant at Oron LEVINE a chemist in the cold laboratory NAOT in charge of the reactor at Dimona ORION in charge of the decontamination section at Dimona Israel PEI AH in charge of the reactor at Nahal Sorek POLES in charge of the hot cells in the hot laboratory at Dimona Mannes PRATT Director of the Dimona site R RANEN in charge of public relations at Dimona RAVIV in charge of the cold laboratory at Dimona RIKLIS a biologist at Dimona RONEN a medical doctor at Dimona in charge of the medical facilities ROSEN in charge of the ventilation section at Dimona ROZEN associated with the plutonium laboratory at Dimona David SAMULES associated with the Isotope Department Weizmann Institute SEROUSSI in charge of the hot laboratory at Dimona SHNEIDOR a chemical engineer in the waste disposal facility at Dimona SIVRONI in charge of the' over-all coordination at Dimona NW# 38431 DocI d 31971043 · I it ' ' •• 0 • 0 ' i r t Igal TALMI Professor of Theoretical Nuclear Physics 'at the Weizmann Institute and designated by the Pr me Min ter of Israel as his representative during the 1965 visit Reuven THIEBERGER nuclear physicist at Dimona Gideon YEKUTIELLI nuclear physicist and mathematician at the Weizmann Institute OTHER ISRAELI PERSONNEL ASSOCIATED WITH DIMONA XVII 1 _ J1 a Associated with the Physics Department '·•· I AVIH • M Y BONER E CHEIFETZ P DEMARMELS E FINKMAN A GERSTEN s GOSHEN T GOZANI z KAM M PASTERNAK l· I ' A PAZY H SHAKED ' I I f J WOLBERG I b Mr Simeon A ADAR works in the radiochemi try laboratory and Dr EREZ worked in the plutonium laboratory I ' NW# 38431