UK sold Israel nuclear component says BBC

Britain secretly sold Israel a key ingredient for its nuclear programme in the 1950s, according to official documents seen by the BBC.

Newsnight unearthed papers which showed a deal was done to export 20 tonnes of "heavy water" with no "peaceful use" conditions attached. Some British ministers and the US were apparently unaware of the deal, the programme suggested.

Heavy water was vital for the production of plutonium at the top-secret Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert in 1956.