A group of American experts on the use of atomic fuel for production of electric energy has been requested to study a report on the feasibility of constructing such power stations in Israel, it was announced here today by Yosef Almogi, Minister of Development.
The group, headed by Philip Sporn, a leading American public utility expert, was asked to report its findings next month. Mr. Sporn has been advising Israel on power stations. He had served formerly as chairman of a committee appointed by the United States Atomic Energy Commission on cooperation with the American electric industry.
Earlier this winter, Mr. Sporn had voiced opposition to Israeli engagement in atomic-fueled power stations. However, in the light of a report just issued, Mr, Almogi said, Mr. Sporn had agreed to reconsider his own earlier recommendations and review the entire matter with the group of American experts in this field.
ISRAEL’S DEFENSE MINISTRY ISSUES THE REPORT; LISTS RECOMMENDATIONS
The new report, a 116-page document put out today by the Nuclear Reactors Committee at Tel Aviv, was prepared under the auspices of the Defense Ministry’s scientific development department. While discussing the feasibility of constructing atomic-powered energy stations in Israel, the committee recommended that three points be explored regardless of the ultimate decision as to whether such construction is to be launched immediately or deferred for some years. The three points are:
1. Israel must locate now the possible sites for such atom-powered energy stations along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Such stations, if they are to be built, would have to be along the Mediterranean because sea water for cooling purposes, an essential element in the functioning of an atomic reactor, is cheapest. Sites must be located now, the committee pointed out, because housing developments are staking out many water front locations along the Mediterranean shores.
2. Israel must undertake a survey now to determine the practical results from the operation of its first nuclear power station toward the end of the 1960’s.
3. Even if present conditions indicate that the functioning of such power stations would not be economically feasible as yet, all who must cooperate in such ultimate development must be ready for the possibility of such an operation. These factors include the Government, the Electric Corporation and the country’s various scientific institutions.
ISRAEL MAY PRODUCE ITS OWN URANIUM FOR ATOM POWER STATIONS
According to the report, Israel would need, by 1980, such vast quantities of electric energy as to require an enormous fleet of oil tankers and an increase of Israel’s dependence on foreign oil sources and on open sea routes.
One of Israel’s leading scientists, Prof. David E. Bergmann, head of the Atomic Energy Commission here, said Israel may produce its own uranium from phosphates in the Negev for contemplated atomic power stations. Israel, he noted, could also produce its own, needed heavy water. Heavy water is now being produced and exported by the laboratories of the Weizmann Institute of Science at Rehovot.
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