Triple by Ken Follett

got
    fired from the Ministry of Defense for that paper."
    "Wrong both times. He went on to say, 'We must inflict, or have the power
    to inflict, permanent and crippling damage to
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TRIPLE
    the next Arab army that crosses our borders. We must have nuclear
    weapons.9 Is
    Dickstein was very still for a moment; then he let out his breath in a
    long whistle. It was one of those devastating ideas that seems completely
    obvious as soon as it has been sai(L It would change everything. He was
    silent for a while, digesting the implications. His mind teemed with
    questions. Was it technically feasible? Would the Americans help? Would
    the Israeli Cabinet approve it? Would the Arabs retaliate with their own
    bomb? What he said was, "Bright boy in the Ministry, hell. That was Moshe
    Dayan's paper."
    "No comment," said Borg.
    Did the Cabinet adopt it?-
    'There has been a long debate, Certain elder statesmen argued that they
    had not come this far to see the Middle East wiped out in a nuclear
    holocaust. But the opposition faction relied mainly on the argument that
    if we have a bomb, the Arabs will get one too, and we will be back at
    square one. As it UnWA out, that was their big mistake." Borg reached
    into his pocket and took out a small plastic box. He handed it to
    Dickstein.
    Dickstein switched on the interior light and examined the box. It was
    about an inch and a half square, thin, and blue in color. It opened to
    reveal a small envelope made of heavy light-proof paper. "What!s this?"
    he -said.
    Borg said, "A physicist named Friedrich Schulz visited Cairo in February.
    He is Austrian but he works in the United States. He was apparently on
    holiday in Europe, but his plane ticket to Egypt was paid for by the
    Egyptian government.
    "I had him followed, but he gave our boy the slip and disappeared into
    the Western Desert for forty-eight hours. We know from CIA satellite
    pictures that there is a major construction Project going on in that part
    of the desert. When Schulz came back, he had that in his pocket It's a
    personnel dosimeter. The envelope, which is light-tight, contains a piece
    of ordinary Photographic film. You carry the box in your pocket, or
    pinned to your lapel or trouser belt. If you!re exposed to radiation, the
    film will -show fogging when irs d&veloped. Dosimeters are carried, as
    a matter of routine, by everyone who visits or works in a nuclear power
    station."
    Dickstein switched off the light and gave the box back to
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Ken Falloff
    Borg. "You're telling me the Arabs are already making atom bombs," he said
    softly.
    "That's right." Borg spoke unnecessarily loudly.
    "So the Cabinet gave Dayan the go-ahead to make a bomb of his own."
    "In principle, yes."
    "How so?"
    "Mere are some practical difficulties. The mechanics of the business are
    simple-the actual clockwork of the bomb, so. to speak. Anyone who can make
    a conventional bomb can make a nuclear bomb. Ile problem is getting hold of
    the explosive material, plutonium. You get plutonium out of an atomic
    reactor. It's a by-product. Now, we have a reactor, at Dimona in the Negev
    Desert. Did you know thair,
    "Yes."
    "It's our worst-kept secret. However, we don't have the equipment for
    extracting the plutonium from the spent fuel. We could build a reprocessing
    plant, but the problem is that we have no uranium of our own to put through
    the reactor."
    "Wait a minute." Dickstein frowned. "We must have uranium, to fuel the
    reactor for normal use."
    "correct. We get it from France, and it's supplied to us on condition we
    return the spent fuel to them for reprocessing, so they get the plutonium."
    "Other suppliers?"
    "Would impose the same condition-it's part of all the nuclear
    non-proliferation treaties."
    Dickstein said, "But the people at Dimona could siphon off some of the
    spent fuel without anyone noticing."
    "No. Given the quantity of uranium originally supplied, it's possible to
    calculate precisely how much plutonium comes out the other end. And