9 This duaunzst consists of 4 ages id L of Copies Series UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DECLASSIFIED Memorandum 249 - TO - wr Strong DATE March 15 1963 FROM - William R Crew-Iford Jr g fmum amu I lull md_ SUBJECT Israel's Atomic Energy Programs 301mm 1 In Tel Aviv I had a long talk with our Science Attache Dr webber in Spencer Barnes' presence Webber strikes me as a very fine addition to our staff who will be a great help in months to come Israel it seems has definitely reached a decision to pro ceed with establishment of one power reactor of 125 megawatt capacity The cost of this would be upward of $50 million There are two broad types of reactor they might use The first is a General Electric natural water and enriched uranium reactor Apparently there have already been talks between I the Israelis and GE on this Such a reactor would be subject to con- trols including inepection either by the united States or IAEA For at least a few years to come the Israelis could probably not get the fuel elements for this type of reactor elsewhere 33 7 36 The second is a natural uraniun and heavy water reactor This reactor including the fuel elements could be made available by several different countries sage of which would certainly require safeguards similar to those required by the other countries however might not require such controls model is cheaper than the other type According to webber there are already two competing scien tific schools of thought in Israel on this decision the more national- istically minded are stressing Israel's need to be independent from any other nation and its national dignity in pushing for the reactor which would be independent of US fuel elements contr l Webber furore strong US efforts at an appropriate time to make sure the Israelis purchase the US model He thinks the will be making up their minds as to type about the end o 1953 an th they will want USG financial help If so and if we were indie prepared to help financially then buying a US reactor wouldgeonstitute Downgraded at l2-year intervals not automatically declassified I 5 331 r'ril SECEEB -2- a boost for US industry and would make absolutely certain the application of appropriate safeguards controls Clearly we want Israel's atomic energy programs to be subject to controls either US or preferably IAEA but the issue is more com- plicated than that Could we ever persuade the Arabs that the Israeli decision was inevitable and that our financial help was designed to ensure control 2 Webber's conversations since arrival have left him with a feeling that the Israelis embarked on Dimona as a reaction to Suez after which they felt isolated from the United States and distrustful 3 Webber confirmed my impression that the Israelis may be pur- suing independent but parallel paths of nuclear and missile develOp meat but he doubts that these could be merged into nuclear war headed missiles in less than a decade unless a crash program were undertaken we can detect such a crash program through watching the activities of the Israeli scientists who really count Thanks to Webber's presence we are now doing so h I discussed the latest information I had received before leaving regarding visits to Dimona Both Spencer and Webber were sceptical that the Israelis would agree to two regularly scheduled inspections a year whether or not in combination with the Open safe- guards visits but I said I thought the Israelis might be more sensi- tive than they imagined to the degree of Presidential concern on this subject NEA NE WRCraMford ebb 3 15 53 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