‘Israel’ expands Dimona nuclear facility, as construction work is visible in satellite imagery

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- ‘Israel’ is carrying out a major expansion of its Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev desert, according to a Thursday report by the UK’s Guardian newspaper.

The newspaper reported the development, saying the construction work is visible in satellite imagery published on Thursday by the International Panel on Fissile Material (IPFM), an independent expert group

The section of the complex under construction is several hundred meters from the complex’s reactor and reprocessing plant, and the purpose of the construction is not known, the report said.

Pavel Podvig, a researcher with the International Panel on Fissile Material, which first noticed the construction in the satellite images, told The Guardian that the construction appeared to have started in early 2019 or late 2018.

“It appears that the construction started quite early in 2019, or late 2018, so it’s been under way for about two years, but that’s all we can say at this point,” he said.

Avner Cohen, a leading expert on the Israeli nuclear programme called the new images “intriguing” and noted that the footprint of the Dimona site had remained essentially unchanged for decades.

To this day, ‘Israel’ has a policy of deliberate ambiguity on its nuclear arsenal, neither confirming nor denying its existence while vowing that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons in the Middle East.