Israeli officials said today that the plan for United States-Israel joint development of a $200,000,000 nuclear desalination plant was discussed here by Premier Levi Eshkol and Sen. John Pastore, R.I. Democrat. Walworth Barbour, United States Ambassador to Israel, also attended the meeting Friday. Sen. Pastore reportedly will be named head of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.
It was reported that little progress was made at the meeting, which was held in Premier Eshkol’s office. The Premier stressed again that completion of the project depended on United States terms for financial help because Israel is unable to pay the heavy interest charges called for in the current United States proposals. The Premier underlined the urgency of the need to complete the plant because, he said, Israel will begin to suffer serious water shortages in the early 70’s. Sen. Pastore visited Israel’s experimental reactor at Nahal Shorek.
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