What if the Dimona reactor was bombed
The explosion of the missile, which was launched from Syrian territory and exploded near the Dimona reactor, brought back to the forefront the questions that Israel is keeping to provide clear answers to, which are what if the Dimona reactor was bombed?
“A nuclear leak like the Chernobyl accident is an environmental health catastrophe that the health system in Israel, nor anywhere else in the world, cannot deal with,” says former Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Health, Gabi Barbach.
The same concerns expressed by the former CEO of the Atomic Energy Authority of Israel, Uzi Ilam, saying, “From time to time, they stopped the work of the reactor, and emptied all the heavy water that was in the warehouses, and you can go to the reactor and see what is going on there”.
Experts say that the occupied Palestinian cities will not be severely affected in the event of a missile attack.
However, analysts say, “There are safety concerns associated with the Dimona reactor, especially with the fact that the reactor is aging, and this has not been publicly discussed”.
Military analysts add that if the Dimona reactor was exposed to a missile attack and the attack succeeded in penetrating the air defenses and the Iron Dome that protect the site, heavy water would be dispersed inside the reactor, and explosions and fires would occur that include nuclear fuel components, and radioactive materials are emitted, before the materials turn into a cloud A plane with the wind away from Dimona.
He added that any accident, leakage or explosion at the Dimona reactor would reach the size and circle of damage from the Negev to Tel Aviv, an area inhabited by about 5 million Israelis, in addition to the West Bank, and the radiation would reach the outskirts of Cyprus and Jordan as well.
According to what Mordechai Vanunu, who worked as a nuclear expert at the Dimona reactor from 1976 to 1985, revealed in the Sunday Times newspaper, the strength of the Israeli nuclear reactor is about 24 megawatts, which is not large, but sufficient to produce 10 nuclear bombs per year.
