Apollo Affair

Israel might have bought a lot of its Uranium for their program, with under the table deals, and some of it was mined in the Palestinian desert. However not all of it was bought, or dug, a large proportion of it was stollen. NUMEC was slow to report it.

The NUMEC Affair: Did Highly Enriched Uranium from the U.S. Aid Israel’s Nuclear Weapons Program? | National Security Archive

In 1965, 206 pounds of Uranium went missing from the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC). After it was discovered that the nuclear material went missing, the FBI launched an investigation into the incident. One of the key suspects was Zalman Shapiro, the president of the company. Not only was Zalman Shapiro the president of NUMEC, but he was also an avid Zionist. There was also a visit at the NUMEC plant by Rafi Eitan, who was later to be revealed to be an Israeli spy.

In 1974 about 110 pounds of the material was accounted for in a statement United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which stated it was lost through:

“Previously unidentified and undocumented loss mechanisms”, including “contamination of workers’ clothes, losses from scrubber systems, material embedded in the flooring, and residual deposits in the processing equipment.”

Hersh, Seymour (1991). The Samson Option: Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal and America’s Foreign Policy. Random House. pp. 243, 250, 252, 255. ISBN 0-394-57006-5.

The CIA got involved. years after the incident they confirmed to United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission that they believed the Uranium went to Israel for their atomic program.

https://archive.ph/20140420004311/http://thebulletin.org/did-israel-steal-bomb-grade-uranium-united-states7056

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/secrets-about-suspected-israeli-theft-of-us-weapons-grade-nuclear-material-declassified—irmep-252658041.html

After the investigation, nothing was proven or disproven, meaning no one was found guilty. Though in 2009 Senator Arlen Specter, tried to clear Zalman Shapiro’s of any wrong doing, even though he was never found guilty, or even sent to trial.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140722181525/https://thebulletin.org/did-israel-steal-bomb-grade-uranium-united-states7056/

In 2014 Attorney General Edward Levi pointed out that NUMEC did commit a crime, by not reporting such a significant felony.

There is still much mystery regarding the Apollo Affair, but all the evidence points to one suspect.

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