THE APOLLO AFFAIR

USN Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, born Chaim Gdala Rykower

Zalman Mordecai Shapiro, PHD Chemist & American Zionist who worked on the USS Nautilus under supervision of Admiral Rickover.

Rickover cited Shapiro as one of four individuals most responsible for the program's success.

In 1956 Zalman Shapiro incorporated Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) in Pennsylvania, a nuclear materials processing facility that began receiving a steady stream of government contracts to produce fuel for the Navy's growing fleet of nuclear powered vessels.

NUMEC start-up capital was organized by David Lowenthal, an American citizen who secretly fought for Israel during its 48 war for independence, alongside who would become the country's first head of intelligence Meir Amit & prime minister David Ben-Gurion.

Many members of NUMEC's venture capital network & board of directors were dedicated Zionist, like Shapiro, held leadership positions in the Zionist Organization of America, an American organization founded in 1896 dedicated to the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.

Between 1957-67 NUMEC received 22 tons of HEU-235. Department of Energy audit revealed that NUMEC lost at least 593 pounds of HEU. Losses exceeded the industry average by several times, still holding the record for the highest loss of bomb-grade material of any US plant.

Shapiro formed a company called the Israel NUMEC Isotopes and Radiation Enterprises Limited (ISORAD) in partnership with the Israeli government. The company was ostensibly created research projects involving exposing agricultural products to radiation to kill microorganisms.

Shapiro's business partner, Ernest David Bergmann, chaired the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission – the primary cover organization for Israel's clandestine nuclear weapons program from 1954-66.

About the same time that NUMEC sustained unaccountable losses of HEU-235.