Report Calls Security at Israel's Nuclear Reactor 'Severely Deficient'

Israel refuses to acknowledge possessing an arsenal of nuclear weapons as part of an official policy of "nuclear ambiguity."

Dimona Reactor Dome Photo: Globalsecurity.net

(JERUSALEM Xinhua) - Security arrangements at the Dimona nuclear reactor have been "severely deficient" for years, making Israel's super-secret desert facility vulnerable to a breach, the Israel Hayom daily reported Tuesday.

Several inspections of the site, conducted by the Israeli army' s Home Front Command, determined that its ground security units lack the means to provide adequate protection from potential attacks, the report said.

It remained unclear when the last inspection was carried out, but one defense official who spoke with the newspaper described its findings as "shameful."

"You'd expect Israel's most strategic facility to receive the best security that the state can provide, but the situation was that the reactor was even less protected than some of Israel's borders," the official said. He spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The latest findings prompted the defense establishment to recently allocate 30 million shekels (8 million U.S. dollars) to bolster security at Dimona, also known as the Negev Nuclear Research Center. The funds are now being invested in acquiring more vehicles, cameras and other electronic surveillance measures, the report said.

Israel refuses to acknowledge possessing an arsenal of nuclear weapons as part of an official policy of "nuclear ambiguity." According to the often quoted policy, the Jewish state will not be the first or last country in the Middle East to introduce nuclear weapons to the region.

But foreign media and the majority of defense experts have long held that the Dimona reactor, which has been operating in southern Negev desert since the mid-1960s, produces nuclear weapons. Numerous estimates, based on satellite imagery and the known power of the reactor, concluded that anywhere from 100 to 200 bombs could have been produced at the facility by the year 2000.

Owing to Dimona's importance, the airspace over it is permanently closed to all aircraft and the Israeli Air Force scrambles fighter jets whenever its air traffic controllers identify a suspected breach. The site is also said to be defended from aerial attacks by batteries of anti-aircraft missiles.

The allocation of additional funds to bolster ground security was approved only after Israel's political echelon intervened to solve a dispute in the army's top brass concerning the amount.

While the Israeli military declined to comment on the issue, a defense official told Israel Hayom that security at Dimona had " greatly improved" since the funds were forwarded a few months ago.