Operation Plumbat

Operation Plumbat is the name given to what's believed to have been an Israeli covert operation in 1968 to obtain yellowcake (processed uranium ore) to support the Israeli nuclear weapons effort.

France stopped supplying Israel with uranium fuel for the Dimona nuclear reactor after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Numerous sources believe that in 1968 Israel managed to obtain 200 tonnes of yellowcake from the Belgian mining company Union Minière shipped out of Antwerp to Genoa for a European front company by transferring the ore to another vessel at sea. This Mossad covert operation violated Euratom controls of nuclear materials.

The name of Operation Plumbat is derived from the Latin "plumbum", meaning lead, and is a reference to the labeling of the drums used to transport the yellowcake.

popularization
The book "Operation Uranium Ship" by Menachem Portugali, Dennis Eisenberg and Eli Landau is a 1978 Signet Books claiming to provide details.

The book "Triple" by Ken Follett, is a 1979 book, also by Signet, which is a fictional recreation of the events.