Israel Weighing Establishment of N-Plant
Example of a N-Plant: Sequoyah Nuclear Plantby Mohammed Mar’i
RAMALLAH, West Bank, 2 August 2007 — The office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Israeli Infrastructure Ministry have been weighing for quite sometime the establishment of a nuclear power plant for the production of electricity, a report said yesterday.
According to the Israeli daily, Yediot Ahronot, the Jewish state has toyed with the idea for decades, but recent discussions in Olmert’s office and the Infrastructure Ministry point to a more serious consideration of nuclear power as an environmentally friendly way of generating electricity.
The idea has recently become more popular amongst ministry officials due to Israel’s dependency on outside sources for fuel, air pollution as a result of operating power stations, and the Israel Electric Corporation’s shrinking ability to supply enough power for Israel.
The proposal came days after Olmert confirmed that the United States will increase foreign aid for Israeli defense by 25 percent to $3 billion over the next 10 years.
If the idea were to become a reality, Israel would be forced to allow international supervision of the power plant. The ambiguity surrounding the Israel’s nuclear abilities would thus diminish, if not completely disappear. Israel experts in the energy field have begun considering how to set up the plant without harming Israel’s ambiguity regarding its nuclear capabilities.
The Negev Nuclear Research Center is an Israeli nuclear installation located in the Negev Desert, about ten kilometers to the south of the city of Dimona. Israel commenced in 1958 constructing its ambiguous Dimona nuclear reactor, with French assistance according to the secret Protocol of Sevres agreements. The complex was constructed in secret, and outside the IAEA inspection regime.
The purpose of Dimona is widely assumed to be the manufacturing of nuclear weapons, and the majority of defense experts have concluded that it does in fact do that. However, the Israeli government refuses to confirm or deny this publicly, as part of a policy of deliberate ambiguity.
However, the Israeli Atomic technician Mordechai Vanunu revealed secrets of Israel’s nuclear arsenal to the Sunday Times on October 5, 1986.
According to Vanunu, who spent 18 years in Israeli prison after being convicted of treason, the Dimona plant is “equipped with French plutonium extracting technology, which transformed Dimona from a civilian research establishment to a bomb production facility. Plutonium production rates amount to 40 kilograms a year, enough to build 10 bombs.”
According to the calculations of nuclear scientists consulted by The Sunday Times at that time, “at least 100 and as many as 200 nuclear weapons of varying destructive power have been assembled — 10 times the previously estimated strength of Israel’s nuclear arsenal.”
Yediot Ahronot said that possible locations for the proposed plant have also been considered, and despite a 30-year-old government decision to allocate land in the Negev, where Dimona is located, for this purpose, Israel may well consider the possibility of building the plant in cooperation with a neighboring country.
The Israeli experts in the energy field estimate that the cost of building a nuclear power plant could reach $2 billion — only slightly more than the cost of building technologically advanced coal power plants that are meant to emit far less pollution than older models.
Once Israel approves the plant, the experts say it will take at least eight years before it is completed; four years to plan it and obtain the necessary permits from authorized bodies, and four more years to actually build it.
Officials in the prime minister’s office and the Infrastructure Ministry discussed the probability of harsh international opposition, should Israel decide to go ahead with building the plant. Israel , along with other countries around the world, has been fighting Iran’s attempt to expand its nuclear facilities, which the country claims will be used for peaceful purposes.
RAMALLAH, West Bank, 2 August 2007 — The office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Israeli Infrastructure Ministry have been weighing for quite sometime the establishment of a nuclear power plant for the production of electricity, a report said yesterday.
According to the Israeli daily, Yediot Ahronot, the Jewish state has toyed with the idea for decades, but recent discussions in Olmert’s office and the Infrastructure Ministry point to a more serious consideration of nuclear power as an environmentally friendly way of generating electricity.
The idea has recently become more popular amongst ministry officials due to Israel’s dependency on outside sources for fuel, air pollution as a result of operating power stations, and the Israel Electric Corporation’s shrinking ability to supply enough power for Israel.
The proposal came days after Olmert confirmed that the United States will increase foreign aid for Israeli defense by 25 percent to $3 billion over the next 10 years.
If the idea were to become a reality, Israel would be forced to allow international supervision of the power plant. The ambiguity surrounding the Israel’s nuclear abilities would thus diminish, if not completely disappear. Israel experts in the energy field have begun considering how to set up the plant without harming Israel’s ambiguity regarding its nuclear capabilities.
The Negev Nuclear Research Center is an Israeli nuclear installation located in the Negev Desert, about ten kilometers to the south of the city of Dimona. Israel commenced in 1958 constructing its ambiguous Dimona nuclear reactor, with French assistance according to the secret Protocol of Sevres agreements. The complex was constructed in secret, and outside the IAEA inspection regime.
The purpose of Dimona is widely assumed to be the manufacturing of nuclear weapons, and the majority of defense experts have concluded that it does in fact do that. However, the Israeli government refuses to confirm or deny this publicly, as part of a policy of deliberate ambiguity.
However, the Israeli Atomic technician Mordechai Vanunu revealed secrets of Israel’s nuclear arsenal to the Sunday Times on October 5, 1986.
According to Vanunu, who spent 18 years in Israeli prison after being convicted of treason, the Dimona plant is “equipped with French plutonium extracting technology, which transformed Dimona from a civilian research establishment to a bomb production facility. Plutonium production rates amount to 40 kilograms a year, enough to build 10 bombs.”
According to the calculations of nuclear scientists consulted by The Sunday Times at that time, “at least 100 and as many as 200 nuclear weapons of varying destructive power have been assembled — 10 times the previously estimated strength of Israel’s nuclear arsenal.”
Yediot Ahronot said that possible locations for the proposed plant have also been considered, and despite a 30-year-old government decision to allocate land in the Negev, where Dimona is located, for this purpose, Israel may well consider the possibility of building the plant in cooperation with a neighboring country.
The Israeli experts in the energy field estimate that the cost of building a nuclear power plant could reach $2 billion — only slightly more than the cost of building technologically advanced coal power plants that are meant to emit far less pollution than older models.
Once Israel approves the plant, the experts say it will take at least eight years before it is completed; four years to plan it and obtain the necessary permits from authorized bodies, and four more years to actually build it.
Officials in the prime minister’s office and the Infrastructure Ministry discussed the probability of harsh international opposition, should Israel decide to go ahead with building the plant. Israel , along with other countries around the world, has been fighting Iran’s attempt to expand its nuclear facilities, which the country claims will be used for peaceful purposes.
Labels: Israel
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 1:39 PM
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