Israel airs footage of nuclear reactor

Ma'an news

TEL AVIV (Ma'an) -- Rare footage of an Israeli nuclear reactor in the Galilee was aired by Israeli TV on Saturday evening, marking the first time Israel's nuclear facilities have been openly broadcast to the public. Channel 2's Roni Daniel said there were many details about the reactor's performance which he was not allowed to report on, and said the reactor was used for both civilian and military purposes. "This reactor’s role is to monitor nuclear experiments and activities taking place underground in the world," said a female expert working at the reactor. Staff, she said, would be alerted to preparations for nuclear experiments in North Korea, for example. The nuclear reactor's director told the reporter that the number of Israelis studying nuclear engineering had declined following the closure of the nuclear engineering department at Haifa's Institute of Technology. In August, former Israeli nuclear engineer and whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu completed a three-month sentence for breaking the terms of his release. In the 1980s, Vanunu revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapon program to the British press, and was later kidnapped in Italy by a Mossad agent and tried in Israel.