Dimona’s current reactor, which went online in the 1960s, is likely due for replacement or upgrade, which could also explain the construction.
Satellite images revealed construction work taking place at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, home to Israel’s unconfirmed nuclear program, according to a report by the US-based Associated Press (AP) on Wednesday.
The construction work, originally noted in satellite images, revealed the ongoing development of a “major new structure” at the research center. Experts who analyzed the images told AP they believed the construction is related to Israel’s long-suspected, but unconfirmed, nuclear weapons program, given that it is located “where no civilian power plant exists.”
The experts also believe that the construction is for a new heavy water reactor, though some say it could be a new facility for assembling nuclear weapons. Dimona’s current reactor, which went online in the 1960s, is likely due for replacement or upgrade, which could also explain the construction.
“It’s probably a reactor, that judgement is circumstantial, but that’s the nature of these things,” said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, to AP. “Based on the location, size, and general lack of construction there, it’s more likely a reactor than anything.”
“If it’s a heavy water reactor, they’re seeking to maintain the capability to produce spent fuel that they then can process to separate plutonium for more nuclear weapons,” Daryl G. Kimball, the executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, told AP. “Or they are building a facility to maintain their arsenal or build additional warheads.”
Neither the Israeli government nor the White House responded to AP’s requests for comment.
From newly named Shimon Peres Nuclear Research Center in Dimona, Netanyahu warns those threatening to destroy Israel (August 30, 2018). (credit: PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE)
Israel not under IAEA jurisdiction
Israel’s nuclear program is one of the country’s closely held secrets. Commonly referred to as Dimona’s ‘Textile Factory,’ details of the program were leaked to the world by a whistleblower in the 1980s, although nothing has ever been officially confirmed.
Israel has also not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), an international agreement aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, promoting the spread of peaceful nuclear energy, and advancing nuclear disarmament.
Out of the nine countries believed to have nuclear weapons, only four, including Israel, are not part of the treaty.
This means that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) holds no jurisdiction over Israel’s nuclear program and cannot request to inspect the construction that is taking place.
When asked, the IAEA told AP that Israel “is not obligated to provide information about other nuclear facilities in the country” outside of the Soreq research reactor.
