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Israel's first atomic reactor, at Nahal Soreq, near Rehovot. was built and is operated by the Development Projects Division of the Ministry of Defense for the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. Its components were supplied by an American firm (American Machinery and Foundry, of Connecticut) under an agreement signed in 1955 between Israel and the U.S. for joint development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
The reactor, one of the first to be completed in the Middle East, is of the "swimming pool" type. Its uranium fuel core is located under twenty feet of water and is intended mainly for research purposes. It generates 5,000 kilowatts of heat. In addition, Israel's scientists and technicians enjoyed local training and testing facilities for the first time, while radioactive isotopes produced at Nahal Soreq serve important medical and industrial uses.
The construction of Israel's first atomic reactor was by no means the initial stage of nuclear research in this country but rather the beginning of a more advanced phase, in which the pioneering endeavor of Israel's scientists found yet another outlet.
The reactor's conspicuous shape towering over the sand dunes of Nahal Soreq illustrates the fact that Israel has been "put on the map" among those technologically progressive countries in which nuclear research and development represent a major contribution to peace and prosperity.
