The_Info_Web/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Shimon Yiftach.md

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---
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
tags:
- Person
- Nuclear
- Israel
summary: "Shimon Yiftach was the director of scientific programs for the Israeli defense ministry."
---
Shimon Yiftach was the director of scientific programs for the Israeli defense ministry. He was trained at the [[Argonne National Laboratory]] in [[Illinois]] and was one of [[Israel]]'s leading experts in the chemistry of plutonium. In December 1963, he publicly stated that the advanced reactor at [[Dimona]] would produce plutonium as a by-product, but insisted that the Israeli government had no plans to build a separate plant for chemically reprocessing plutonium. Yiftach knew this was false, as French construction companies had already restarted work on the underground reprocessing plant at [[Dimona]].[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 10.