---
category: Private Organization
end: 2000
location: Los Angeles, California
start: 1966
summary: Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) was an American oil company that acquired
  a controlling interest in the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC)
  in 1967 after NUMEC's founder Zalman Shapiro was forced out amid an FBI investigation
  into highly-enriched uranium diversion to Israel.
tags:
- Organization
- Private
- Energy
---

Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) was an American oil company. In 1967, [Zalman Mordecai Shapiro](/people/zalman-mordecai-shapiro/) and his partners were forced to merge their interest in the [NUMEC](/organizations/nuclear-materials-and-equipment-corporation/) into ARCO due to the continuing controversy over alleged uranium diversion. Shapiro, with his special Q clearance still intact, continued to run the plant.[^1]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 18.