The Negev reactor from a great distance. Photo: Jason Harris
negev nuclear research center
israel’s nuclear facility
The Negev Nuclear Research Center outside Dimona, recently renamed for Shimon Peres, has served as Israel’s key nuclear installation since the 1960s. Ostensibly for peaceful energy research purposes, most countries generally believe that it is the facility which produces Israel’s nuclear weapons. It was opened to U.S. inspections at various stages, but the Americans were never able to obtain hard evidence of weapons production. Israel maintains a policy of nuclear ambiguity, neither admitting nor denying that it possess nuclear weapons.