Israel building new nuclear reactor? Satellite images reveal new construction; experts raise alarm

Satellite images have revealed intensified construction at a key Israeli facility, long linked with the country’s suspected nuclear programme.

The new structure could be a reactor or a site for assembling nuclear arms, though the program’s deep secrecy leaves its purpose uncertain, AP reported citing experts.


The activity at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near Dimona is likely to reignite debate over Israel’s position as the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed state.

“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, weighed in on the images and Dimona’s history.

“It’s very hard to imagine it is anything else,” he added.

Seven experts who analyzed the images agreed the construction is likely linked to Israel’s long-suspected nuclear weapons program, given its location near Dimona’s reactor, where no civilian plant exists.

They differed, however, on its purpose. Three believe the multi-story structure points to a new heavy water reactor, capable of producing plutonium and other weapons-grade materials. The remaining four said it could be a reactor or a facility for assembling nuclear arms but emphasised that the project is still in its early stages, making definitive conclusions difficult.

The origin of Israel’s nuclear ambition

Although Israel has neither denied or confirmed the possession of atomic weapons, by 1950s, Israel had set up the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and begun exploring uranium in the Negev. Its nuclear program accelerated through a secret alliance with France after the 1956 Suez Crisis, with Paris helping build the Dimona heavy-water reactor, officially labeled a textile plant, using French plans, technicians, and expertise.

The reactor could produce weapons-grade plutonium, and by the mid-1960s, Israel reportedly had enough fissile material for its first nuclear weapon, with the program already well advanced before drawing global attention.

Dimona’s heavy water reactor, active since the 1960s, has far outlived most of its contemporaries, indicating it may soon require replacement or major upgrades.

Israel remains the Middle East’s sole nation widely believed to possess nuclear weapons. While countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Iran have pursued nuclear programs at various points, some more aggressively than others, none have succeeded in developing a nuclear bomb.

Israel also never joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the landmark accord aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear arms. As a result, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, has no authority to inspect the Dimona facility.

Meanwhile, the UN’s nuclear watchdog reported on Monday that it has detected traces of uranium in Syria during its investigation of a site destroyed by Israel in 2007, reported the Times of Israel.