{"id":356560,"date":"2026-03-25T02:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T02:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/356560\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T02:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T02:50:17","slug":"fallout-from-iranian-strike-on-dimona-plant-would-be-symbolic-not-radioactive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/356560\/","title":{"rendered":"Fallout from Iranian strike on Dimona plant would be symbolic, not radioactive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s ballistic missile strike this weekend on the southern city of Dimona, which left dozens injured, sparked fears of a different kind of destruction as the US-Israeli campaign against Iran reaches its fourth week.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s strike heavily damaged residential buildings in the dusty desert city. But it also raised urgent questions about the ostensible vulnerability of the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, which lies 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) away, and Iran\u2019s willingness to target it.<\/p>\n

Despite those fears, a missile strike on the facility, even a direct hit on its underground reactor, would be unlikely to produce a radiological disaster \u2014 though it would certainly be a major symbolic win for Tehran.<\/p>\n

Israeli nuclear experts stressed to The Times of Israel that the Dimona plant houses a small research reactor rather than a giant commercial power reactor, and that it is heavily defended by both active and passive defense measures.<\/p>\n

Experts based their analysis solely on open sources about the research center, due to the largely classified nature of the facility.<\/p>\n

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According to foreign media reports, the site produces fissile material for nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tView of the nuclear reactor in Dimona, southern Israel, in 2016. (Moshe Shai\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Foreign governments and media believe Israel to be the Middle East\u2019s sole nuclear power, but Jerusalem has long refused to confirm or deny that it has nuclear weapons, and officially maintains that the Dimona plant focuses on research and energy provision.<\/p>\n

Physical danger<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most dangerous thing to bomb is an active nuclear reactor used for energy production. That\u2019s not what exists in Israel,\u201d explained Ori Nissim Levy, Chairman of the World Nuclear Forum and lecturer at Afeka Academic College of Engineering.<\/p>\n

The Dimona reactor is estimated to be around 150 megawatts. For comparison, the Soreq Nuclear Research Center outside the central town of Yavne has a reactor of about five megawatts. Both fall far below the scale of large electricity-producing reactors, which typically have a production capacity of around 1,000 megawatts or more.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tThe scene where a missile fired from Iran at Israel caused damage to residential buildings in the southern city of Dimona, March 22, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Attacks on active nuclear reactors in Iran\u2019s Bushehr, or in countries like France, the United States, Canada and others, \u201cwould be far more dangerous,\u201d Nissim Levy said, but for Israel, \u201cthe most dangerous element is actually the fuel \u2014 especially spent fuel after use, which is the most radioactive material.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if the fuel supply were attacked, \u201cthe danger should not be very great,\u201d he added, noting that \u201cthese systems are very heavily protected\u201d both by physical protection of infrastructure and layered air defense systems like Arrow 2, Arrow 3 and others.<\/p>\n

If radiation did leak, it would probably only affect a radius of hundreds of meters at most, depending on the nature and size of the explosion, Nissim Levy predicted. The leakage would remain confined to one area within the facility where employees are unlikely to be present, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn wartime, what is typically done [at nuclear plants] is to scale down or shut down activity. That reduces the severity of potential damage,\u201d Nissim Levy added.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tWorkers in protective suits and masks wait to enter the emergency operation center at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station in Okuma, Japan, November 12, 2011. (AP Photo\/David Guttenfelder, Pool, File)<\/p>\n

Still, Home Front Command might instruct people within a kilometer to evacuate, more as a precaution than as a response to confirmed danger, he predicted.<\/p>\n

Israel also has sensors in place that precisely monitor the results of such a leak and how significant it is based on the level of radioactivity, in order to determine whether broader evacuation is necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe radiological damage would likely be very localized,\u201d Nissim Levy said, unlike the\u00a0 Chernobyl disaster in 1986 or the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be some massive catastrophe\u2026 because there\u2019s a fundamental difference between incidents in large, active power reactors and what we\u2019re talking about here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tSatellite photo provided by Planet Labs PBC shows the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near the city of Dimona, Israel, July 5, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)<\/p>\n

Even if a missile did hit the reactor, there\u2019s no reason to fear that it would cause a nuclear explosion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Israel has any [nuclear] weapons, they are almost certainly not stored [in Dimona]. That\u2019s nearly certain. This is a site for production, research and technological development \u2014 not storage of finished weapons,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

Even if a nuclear bomb were hit in an attack, it would not set off a nuclear blast.<\/p>\n

\u201cA uranium, plutonium, or hydrogen bomb cannot be triggered by an external explosion,\u201d explained Nissim Levy. \u201cIt requires a very precise internal detonation system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only \u201ca very complex and precise warhead system\u201d built into the bomb can set it off, he said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tShimon Peres, right and David Ben-Gurion visit Israel\u2019s nuclear reactor in Dimona (Defense Ministry Archives)<\/p>\n

For Israel, the greatest danger of a strike on the Dimona site would likely be a byproduct of the facility\u2019s status as a symbol of Israel\u2019s strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primary significance of a strike on the reactor would not lie in physical danger, but in a major psychological and symbolic achievement for Iran,\u201d said Zaki Shalom, senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy.<\/p>\n

The reactor has long been singled out as a primary target for Hezbollah, Hamas and other Iranian proxies, as well as the Islamic Republic itself.<\/p>\n

Israel would need to respond in an exceptional manner. It would not be able to suffice with a parallel strike on nuclear sites in Iran.<\/p>\n

In 2018, in rare public remarks, the head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, Ze\u2019ev Snir, said the country had been reinforcing the Dimona nuclear reactor in light of threats made by Iran and Hezbollah.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot ignore the repeated and explicit threats made by Iran and its proxies to attack Israel\u2019s nuclear sites,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tScreen capture from a video released by the military wing of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad terror group threatening rocket attacks on the nuclear reactor in Dimona and other sensitive sites in Israel, May 4, 2019. (Screen capture)<\/p>\n

According to Shalom, the Iranians \u201cwould likely claim \u2014 with considerable justification \u2014 that they had succeeded in striking one of the central pillars of Israel\u2019s security doctrine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prestige of Israel\u2019s highly sophisticated defense system, built over many years with enormous investment, would be severely damaged if missiles were to hit the Dimona reactor.\u201d<\/p>\n

That, Shalom argued, would likely warrant an extreme response from Israel.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tA cleric and other people pray at the graves of Iranian nuclear scientists, their families and a Revolutionary Guard commander who were mainly killed in Israeli strikes in June 2025, at the shrine of Saint Saleh during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in northern Tehran, Iran, on February 19, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n

If such a sensitive security site were damaged, even minimally, \u201cit can be assumed that Israel would need to respond in an exceptional manner. It would not be able to suffice with a parallel strike on nuclear sites in Iran, since it is already doing so in any case,\u201d Shalom said.<\/p>\n

While the nature of such a response is difficult to predict, strikes on Iran\u2019s power plants could become a strong consideration, \u201cshould the Dimona project, heaven forbid, be damaged in any way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s ballistic missile strike this weekend on the southern city of Dimona, which left dozens injured, sparked fears…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-356560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}