ARMS CONTROL TODAY
April 2021
By Sang-Min Kim Satellite imagery analyzed by experts at the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) in February 2021 shows significant new construction underway in the southwest portion of Israel’s main nuclear weapons complex near the city of Dimona.
The construction activity at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center (NNRC) is within the immediate vicinity of the buildings that contain the facility’s heavy-water nuclear reactor and reprocessing plant, which have been used to produce plutonium for the country’s nuclear weapons arsenal. Israel does not publicly acknowledge possessing nuclear weapons and has not provided an explanation about the construction activities underway.
Tel Aviv adheres to a policy of nuclear ambiguity, meaning that it neither confirms nor denies possessing nuclear weapons. At the same time, the country reserves.
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Mar. 3, 2021
The only surprise about the satellite photos showing extensive construction at Israel s Dimona nuclear reactor is that they were only published now. The story began with photographs taken in early January by a Chinese commercial satellite, SuperView-1, which were later viewed by independent Princeton researchers known as the International Panel on Fissile Materials.
The pictures were published on February 18 by The Guardian’s Julian Borger; the veteran journalist wrote that the work at Dimona began either in late 2018 or early 2019.
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A dig about the size of a soccer field and likely several stories deep now sits just meters from the aging reactor at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near the city of Dimona.