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Updated August 2005
Nuclear Chronology
1960s
This annotated chronology is based on the data sources that follow each entry. Public sources often provide conflicting information on classified military programs. In some cases we are unable to resolve these discrepancies, in others we have deliberately refrained from doing so to highlight the potential influence of false or misleading information as it appeared over time. In many cases, we are unable to independently verify claims. Hence in reviewing this chronology, readers should take into account the credibility of the sources employed here.
Inclusion in this chronology does not necessarily indicate that a particular development is of direct or indirect proliferation significance. Some entries provide international or domestic context for technological development and national policymaking. Moreover, some entries may refer to developments with positive consequences for nonproliferation.
Early 1960s
Egypt's Nuclear Materials Authority begins uranium exploration. It concentrates its exploration activities in three mineralized areas in the Easter Desert and Sinai: Gabal Gattar, El Missikat and El Erediya, and Abu Zeneima. According to a 1999 IAEA/NEA report, Egypt does not report any known occurrences of conventional uranium resources, while the undiscovered speculative conventional resources amount to 15,000 tU. The unconventional resources of uranium ("estimated additional resources" and "speculative resources") are found in sedimentary phosphate deposits (6,000 tU) and monazite deposits (2,000 tU).
— "Egypt," Uranium 1999: Resources, Production and Demand (OECD NEA, 2000).
1961
President Nasser declares that if Israel obtains nuclear weapons, "we will secure atomic weapons at any costs."
— Robert Stephens, Nasser, A Political Biography (Allen Lane, London, 1971), pp. 316-317, as cited in Shyam Bhatia, Nuclear Rivals in the Middle East (New York: Routledge, 1988), p. 48.
8 February 1961
Egypt starts operation of the Soviet-supplied 2MW research reactor at the Inshas Nuclear Research Center. The Soviet Union provides the initial fuel load of 3.2kg of 10% enriched uranium.
— "ETRR-1," Nuclear Research Reactors in the World, IAEA, 6 March 2001, http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/rrdb/>; The Risk Report, Vol. 6, No. 5 (September-October 2000).
1962
Alexandria University establishes a Nuclear Engineering Department, the first department of its kind in the Arab world.
— Shyam Bhatia, Nuclear Rivals in the Middle East (New York: Routledge, 1988), p. 54.
1964
Egypt solicits suggestions from the IAEA for future sites for nuclear power stations. The IAEA suggests Inshas, Burg El Arab (west of Alexandria along the Mediterranean Coast), Wady Hof, Fayoum on Lake Quaroon, and El Tahrir. Egypt's goals include construction of at least one nuclear power station of 200MW operating at one of these sites by 1972.
— Shyam Bhatia, Nuclear Rivals in the Middle East (New York: Routledge, 1988), p. 55.
1964
Egypt solicits assistance from the Soviet Union in establishing a radiochemistry division, including hot labs, at Inshas. [Note: The deal is subsequently suspended sometime in 1965 after the cancellation of a deal with Germany's Siemens to build a heavy water reactor.]
— Shyam Bhatia, Nuclear Rivals in the Middle East (New York: Routledge, 1988), p. 55.
1965
Former AEE official Salah Hedayat establishes the Design Consultants Association, a nuclear engineering consultancy group, funded by the Egyptian government, to help Egypt develop an independent nuclear fuel cycle.
— Shyam Bhatia, Nuclear Rivals in the Middle East (New York: Routledge, 1988), p. 56.
Late 1965
Egypt invites bids for a 150MW Western commercial-scale nuclear power plant to be located in Brog El-Arab, west of Alexandria. The plant would desalinate up to 2,000 cubic meters of seawater a day. US and West German companies offer bids for the project.
— Mohammad El-Sayed Selim, "Egypt and the Middle Eastern Nuclear Issue," Strategic Analysis, January 1996, p. 1384.
December 1965
Alarmed by Israel's activities at Dimona Nuclear Research Center, Egypt approaches the Soviet Union to buy their nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union refuses the request, but reportedly guarantees nuclear protection if Israel develops or acquires such weapons.
— Hedrick Smith, "Soviet Said to Offer Cairo Atom Defense," New York Times, 3 February 1966.
1967
Having failed to secure nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union in 1965, Egypt approaches China for nuclear arms. The latter reportedly turns down the request, advising Egypt to proceed gradually and with self-dependence.
— Mohammed Hassanein Heykal, Al Ahram, Editorial, 23 November 1973, as cited in Raymond H. Anderson, "Top Cairo Editor Urges Nuclear Arms for Arabs," New York Times, 23 November 1973.
5-10 June 1967
Following months of escalating tensions with Egypt and other Arab neighbors, culminating in the withdrawal of UN Emergency Force, Israel launches a pre-emptive strike against Egyptian air forces, thus initiating what became known as the Six Day War. Egypt consequently loses control of the Sinai Peninsula.
— "Timeline: Egypt," BBC News, 3 March 2003, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/790979.stm>.
1 July 1968
Possibly triggered by its losses in the June 1967 War and with the hope that Israel follows suit, Egypt signs the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
— "Multilateral Arms Regulation and Disarmament Agreements: NPT, Egypt," UN Department for Disarmament Affairs, accessed on 23 April 2003, <http://disarmament.un.org/TreatyStatus.nsf>.
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2008
by MIIS.
