CAIRO ø Egypt has installed 17 stations near the border with Israel
in an effort to monitor radiation from the Dimona reactor, said to be the
production facility for Israel's nuclear weapons.
Egyptian officials said the stations were placed along the eastern Sinai
Peninsula as part of a network to monitor radiation from Dimona.
The Dimona reactor has generated environmental concerns on both sides of the border.
Over the last few years, Egypt has frequently complained that the
40-year-old Dimona reactor marked an environmental danger.
In August, Israeli authorities distributed anti-radiation tablets to residents in the area of
Dimona, Middle East Newsline reported.
Ali Islam, director of the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, said the
nearest radiation-monitoring station in the Sinai Peninsula was 73
kilometers from the nuclear reactor in Dimona. Islam said Egypt has also
operated mobile units, for installation on either aircraft or vehicles, that
could detect radiation directly along the Egyptian-Israeli border.
So far, officials said, Egyptian authorities have not obtained evidence
of unusually high radiation levels from Israel. They said the monitoring
network could detect any change in radiation levels within an hour.
Officials said Egypt has also established a radiation monitoring center
in Taba, adjacent to the Israeli port city of Eilat. They said the Taba
facility was meant to support the Egyptian monitoring network during an
emergency.
Israel, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has
refused to submit Dimona to inspection by the International Atomic Energy
Agency. Western analysts said Israel has developed between 100 and 200
nuclear warheads in Dimona.
