---
category: Nuclear Scientists & Programs
summary: Senior AEC scientist hired by NUMEC who discovered that missing uranium was
  embedded in concrete floors and ventilation systems.
tags:
- Person
- Nuclear
- Israel
---

James E. Lovett was a senior [AEC](/organizations/atomic-energy-commission/) scientist. He was hired by [Zalman Mordecai Shapiro](/people/zalman-mordecai-shapiro/) in a desperate effort to save his company, [NUMEC](/organizations/nuclear-materials-and-equipment-corporation/), by taking over nuclear materials accountability. Lovett insisted that the concrete floor of the old plant be protected with stainless steel, as concrete absorbed far more uranium than suspected. He realized that Shapiro and other company officials were deluding themselves about recovering most of the missing uranium from NUMEC's waste pits, as much of it was embedded in the concrete floor, clinging to ventilation ducts, or flushed into local waterways.[^1]

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