Israeli nuclear reactor staff used in uranium test

A FORMER employee at Israel’s nuclear reactor at Dimona has filed a lawsuit claiming that together with four other workers he…

A FORMER employee at Israel’s nuclear reactor at Dimona has filed a lawsuit claiming that together with four other workers he was required to drink uranium as part of an experiment carried out at the plant in 1998.

The Ha'aretznewspaper wrote yesterday that Julius Malick, who recently retired from his job, is suing the Dimona facility for €330,00, claiming the experiment took place without medical supervision and without the participants being warned of the dangers.

According to Mr Malick, the five workers were required to drink juice containing uranium and then asked to urinate to see how much of the substance passed through their bodies.

In response to the lawsuit, Israel’s atomic energy commission issued a statement explaining that the amount of uranium the Dimona workers drank in the experiment (100 micrograms) was less than the amount residents drink from their taps in a month, stressing that the Dimona plant “has the safety and health of its workers as its highest priority”.

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The plant was constructed in the late 1950s with French help and, according to foreign reports, has produced enough plutonium to build more than 200 nuclear bombs.

But Israel does not allow inspections at the site and maintains a policy of “nuclear ambiguity”, refusing to confirm reports that the site is used to make bombs.

There have been occasional reports of accidents at the plant, but the lawsuit is the first reported case of experiments being carried out on Dimona employees.

Also in Israel yesterday, four ministers toured West Bank outposts established by Jewish settlers and called on the government to declare the hilltop communities legal.

They also urged the re-establishment of one of the four settlements dismantled in the northern West Bank as part of Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005.

Dozens of small outposts have been established, usually by younger radical settlers, without government permission.

The ministerial support for the illegal outposts came as the Israeli government continued ongoing discussions with US officials over a freeze in settlement construction.

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is due to meet US president Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, in London next week in an effort to reach a compromise and open the way for a resumption of peace talks on the Israeli-Palestinian track.

Opposition parties said the ministers’ comments put Jerusalem “on a collision course” with Washington.