MK Dov Khenin yesterday demanded external, non-military supervision of Israel’s nuclear reactor near Dimona, in the southern Negev desert.
The absence of civilian supervision of the reactor “can no longer be tolerated,” said Khenin, chairman of the Knesset Joint Committee for Health and the Environment.
He said the reactor, located 30 kilometers from the Syrian-African rift, had recently been improved.
But this had been done without international assistance and know-how, because Israel is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Israel Radio quoted Khenin as saying.
Nuclear expert Uzi Even had urged the government this week to take into account the damage caused in Japan to an atomic power plant by last week’s earthquake and tsunami.
“The reactor in Dimona is old. It is almost 50, and its soft underbelly is its cooling system. I’ve been warning for years about the need to close it and to build a new one,” said Even, a nuclear scientist and chemistry professor.
Deadly earthquakes have occurred along the Great Rift Valley, where two plates are moving apart. Israel itself has seen only minor tremors in recent years, although experts have warned that a more serious earthquake could be only a matter of time.
(Source: Haaretz)
The US has had civilian control over almost all its nuclear reactors other than on navy ships since 1947.
Israel should do what France and China did and join the Nonproliferation Treaty as a nuclear weapons state.
As soon as there is a peace treaty with the Islamic countries (most of whom are at war with Israel, albeit with a temporary cease fire in place), I’m sure Israel will adopt the same sorts of controls in place in other countries. Given that the Muslims already have at least one nuclear power, and have a propensity to massacre people in war time, Israel isn’t about to make such a concession.
The person making the comments is a full fledged COMMUNIST. I don’t think he can be taken very seriously. He’s only in the knesset because the communist party, which is now primarily Arab, needed a Jewish “front man”.