Israeli wall of secrecy on nuclear reactor is down
Israel, International, 10/13/1997

The wall of secrecy Israel has clamped over its nuclear reactor in the desert town of Dimona in the south is seemingly falling aprat with a court decision in Tel Aviv holding the Israeli government responsible for a reactor employee's death from cancer, believed to have been caused by nuclear radiation.

For the first time in Israel's history, a public debate on security precautions taken at Israel's nuclear reactor in Dimona, has ended with a Tel Aviv court ordering the government of Israel to pay compensation to the family of a reactor employee who died some years ago of cancer, believed to have been caused by the reactor's radiation.

The court ruled that the nuclear reactor in Dimona is operating with its "eyes closed," showing contempt for human life and not taking necessary safety precautions against radioactive materials. The verdict, taken late last week, referred to the death of Haim Eitach, a worker at the nuclear plant who died of cancer in 1989 at the age of 43. He had been working in the reactor since 1963.

Israel has usually clamped a thick smoke of secrecy around the activities of its nuclear reactor, which was presented to the outside word as a textile factory when it was established in the mid-fifties. In its verdict, the court took notice of the extraordinary difficulties the lawyer had to go through in order to obtain documents and data he needed to support his claim before the court, due to the classified nature of work at the nuclear reactor.

During the trial it was established that in the course of his work at the plant, the vicitm was subjected to three episodes of radioactive exposure -- incidents in which radiation leaked outside of the reactor bubble. Two years after the third episode, in 1980, he was diagnosed as having cancer. Three years after his death, his widow, Miriam Eitach, initiated the suit, together with her three children. The court's deliberations lasted for five years.

The court affirmed the plaintiff's claim that there is a high probability that Haim Eitach incurred cancer after being exposed to radiation in an incident caused by the negligent safety procedures enforced by the reactor's management. The state will therefore pay US $750,000 to Eitach's family. The court's verdict attacks the testimony made by the prosecution's prime witness, Dr. Haim Lichtner, calling it "unreliable." Lichtner, a top official at the Dimona plant, is responsible for safety procedures there. The verdict stated: "The impression has been garnered that Dr. Lichtner has not spared any effort in presenting a rose-colored picture of the safety procedures against radiation exposure undertaken to protect reactor workers."

The verdict also ruled that in the course of his testimony, Lichtner made an effort to confuse facts related to the exposure accident in 1980. The judge ruled that reactor managers ignore, as a consistent policy, the risk of radiation building up in the bodies of workers from exposure at places outside of the plant, such as dental x-rays or CT scans; this neglect has arisen despite the fact that the level of any worker's exposure to radiation can be easily monitored. "The reactor's approach causes worry and outrage," the judge ruled.

During the course of the trial, the court ruled that the reactor's representatives did not succeed in proving that significant safety precautions were taken in Eitach's case; they did not prove that he wore a device to measure radiation levels. It was also not established that Eitach was briefed personally about work procedures and cautionary measures to be taken to avoid exposure to dangerous levels of radiation. Moreover, the reactor's management did not establish during the trial how the plant follows up on radiation levels to which workers have been exposed, and how it responds to a situation where a worker has been exposed to dangerous levels. The judge criticized the claim that a verdict against the reactor in Dimona would be likely to harm all workers in the nuclear field in Israel.

Previous Stories:
  Egypt inaugurates a nuclear reactor in mid October   (10/11/1997)
  International Atomic Energy Agency calls for nuclear-free zone in Mideast   (10/9/1997)
  China tells Israel - No more nuclear support to Iran   (8/25/1997)

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