Zalman Mordecai Shapiro

Zalman Mordecai Shapiro was an American Jew and owner of the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC), a privately owned nuclear enriching plant in Apollo, Pennsylvania. He was suspected by the CIA and others of having smuggled more than two hundred pounds of weapons-grade uranium to Israel, enough for four bombs. This alleged diversion was a major factor in Carl E. Duckett's CIA estimates of Israel's nuclear arsenal.¹

Shapiro was hounded by these suspicions for twenty-five years, despite no significant evidence proving the diversion was ever found. The CIA and AEC never learned that Shapiro did have a secret life, meeting and befriending many of Israel's senior nuclear scientists, including Ernst David Bergmann, and conducting sensitive, legitimate missions for Israel. He was asked by Israel to devise a rapid and accurate method of determining whether water had been contaminated with toxic materials, and also advised on how to prevent water loss in the National Water Carrier.¹

Shapiro's business involved the chemical isolation and recovery of enriched uranium from dirt and scrap, a process that inherently generated some loss, known as MUF (material unaccounted for). The AEC eventually determined that over two hundred pounds of enriched uranium could not be accounted for from NUMEC, leading to suspicions of diversion. Despite intensive FBI surveillance and investigations, no significant evidence proving that Shapiro had diverted any uranium was ever found. Instead, the missing uranium was found to have ended up in the air and water of Apollo, as well as in the plant's ducts, tubes, and floors.¹

In 1967, Shapiro and his partners were forced to merge their interest in NUMEC into the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) due to the continuing controversy. Shapiro continued to run the plant. He convened meetings of American and Israeli scientists to discuss protecting Israel's National Water Carrier from terrorists, and his company provided specialized small power sources for the security of waterways, all approved for export by the Commerce Department.¹

In 1977, Jody Powell, President Jimmy Carter's press secretary, publicly announced that investigations had "failed to reveal" a diversion of uranium to Israel. However, Carl E. Duckett and John L. Hadden continued to push their suspicions, leading to further investigations. By the early 1990s, Duckett essentially recanted many of his previous assertions, stating he knew of nothing to indicate Shapiro was guilty. Despite this, many journalists continued to believe Shapiro diverted uranium for the Israeli bomb.¹