---
category: Private Organization
location: Apollo, Pennsylvania, USA
start: 1957
summary: Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) was a privately owned
  nuclear enriching plant in Apollo, Pennsylvania, owned by Zalman Mordecai Shapiro.
tags:
- Organization
- Nuclear
- Private
- USA
---

Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) was a privately owned nuclear enriching plant in Apollo, Pennsylvania, owned by [Zalman Mordecai Shapiro](/people/zalman-mordecai-shapiro/). It was suspected by the [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) and others of having smuggled more than two hundred pounds of weapons-grade uranium to [Israel](/places/israel/), enough for four bombs. This alleged diversion was a major factor in [Carl E. Duckett](/people/carl-e-duckett/)'s [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) estimates of [Israel](/places/israel/)'s nuclear arsenal.[^1]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 14, 18.