Where Did Israel Get Its Uranium?

[ralph124c]

From other posts I gather that Israel has about 200 small nuclear bombs. My question: where did Israel obtain the Uranium? Does it have uranium deposits?
A few years ago, I read that a ship carrying uranium ore disappeared in the N. Atlantic…only to turn up in Haifa, minus its cargo.
Also, any evidence that Israel has a hydrogen bomb? Is this within their technical capabilities?

[jjimm]

Some of it was local

In 1949, HEMED GIMMEL a special unit of the IDF’s Science Corps, began a two-year geological survey of the Negev desert with an eye toward the discovery of uranium reserves. Although no significant sources of uranium were found, recoverable amounts were located in phosphate deposits.

And France supplied some:

de Gaulle offered to sell Israel fighter aircraft in exchange for stopping work on the reprocessing plant, and came away from the meeting convinced that the matter was closed. It was not. Over the next few months, Israel worked out a compromise. France would supply the uranium and components already placed on order and would not insist on international inspections. In return, Israel would assure France that they had no intention of making atomic weapons, would not reprocess any plutonium, and would reveal the existence of the reactor, which would be completed without French assistance. In reality, not much changed - French contractors finished work on the reactor and reprocessing plant, uranium fuel was delivered and the reactor went critical in 1964.

[Hail_Ants]

There’s also the story that South Africa provided it in exchange for technical help in their nuclear weapons program (the infamous ‘Vela incident’).

Here’s some info on Israel’s program.

[El_Kabong]

There has long been speculation that Israel received between 100 and 600 lbs of enriched uranium in the 1960s under the cover of “materials unaccounted for”, from a plant in Apollo, PA, just east of Pittsburgh. Despite extensive investigation by the FBI and other authorities, however, apparently it was never conclusively shown that this had really taken place.

Link:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/specialreports/buriedlegacy/s_87948.html