Operation Plumbat
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Operation Plumbat was an Israeli covert operation in 1968 to obtain yellowcake (processed uranium ore) to support the Israeli nuclear weapons effort.[1]
France stopped supplying Israel with uranium fuel for the Dimona nuclear reactor after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. In 1968 Israel managed to obtain 200 tonnes of yellowcake shipped out of Antwerp to Genoa for a European front company by transferring the ore to another vessel at sea. This Mossad covert operation violated Euratom controls of nuclear materials.[1][2]
The name of Operation Plumbat is derived from the Latin "plumbum", meaning lead, and is a reference to the labeling of the drums used to transport the yellowcake.[2]
There are many fiction books created around this incident, including the very famous "Triple" authored by Ken Follet.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Uranium: The Israeli Connection". TIME. May 30, 1977. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914952-1,00.html. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
- ^ a b Victor Gilinsky (former Commissioner U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission) (May 13, 2004). "Israel's Bomb". The New York Review of Books. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17104. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
[edit] Sources
- Davenport, E., Eddy, P., & Gillman, P. (1978). The Plumbat Affair. Philadelphia: Lippincott. ISBN 978-0397012480
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