Secretive nuclear facility undergoes major project
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A secretive Israeli nuclear facility at the center of the nation’s undeclared atomic weapons program is undergoing what appears to be its biggest construction project in decades, satellite photos analyzed by the Associated Press show.
A dig about the size of a soccer field and likely several stories deep now sits just yards from the aging reactor at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near the city of Dimona. The facility is already home to decadesold underground laboratories that reprocess the reactor’s spent rods to obtain weaponsgrade plutonium for Israel’s nuclear bomb program.
What the construction is for, however, remains unclear. The Israeli government did not respond to detailed questions from the AP about the work. Under its policy of nuclear ambiguity, Israel neither confirms nor denies having atomic weapons. It is among just four countries that have never joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty, a landmark international accord meant to stop the spread of nuclear arms.
The construction comes as Israel — under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — maintains its scathing criticism of Iran’s nuclear program, which remains under the watch of U.N. inspectors unlike its own. That has renewed calls among experts for Israel to publicly declare details of its program.