Dimona, potential eco-catastrophe

Experts have warned that dangerous radioactive substances are leaking from the reactors of Israel’s Dimona Nuclear Power Plant in the Negev Desert and that the Middle East could be on the verge of a humanitarian and ecological catastrophe equal to or greater than the one caused by the explosion of the Chernobyl reactor in Ukraine in 1986.

According to Jane’s Intelligence Review, Dimona has exceeded its 30-year lifespan by 12 years and the nuclear power plant’s concrete walls have deep cracks due to earthquakes in the Negev Desert and the Dead Sea region.

Israel built the nuclear power plant to produce nuclear weapons. Dimona and five other Israel plants have produced over 250 nuclear warheads so far.

Despite its insufficient safety procedures and the dangers of leaking plutonium and uranium, Dimona has produced over 1,400 tons of highly-enriched uranium over the past 40 years.

Israel produces 32 tons of atomic waste per year, most of which is buried in the Negev Desert in the vicinity of the Egyptian border. This has caused a rise in cancer among the inhabitants of the Negev Desert and the nomadic Bedouins of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Experts have predicted that if there were a meltdown or explosion at Dimona at least three million people would be killed in occupied Palestine and other neighboring states such as Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon and about 17 million would be affected by the radioactive fallout.

source:
tehran.times

yes i know what you are going to say, when you see the source of this news.
potential iranian propaganda.
to turn away the attention focused on their developing nuclear plant.

but then again, if israeli goverment is really pushing this reactor to its limits,
since the lifespan has already run out, a BIG eco catastrophe can occur.
and then it is just a question of wind direction, when the radioactive-toxic-cloud reaches your front door...
maybe the nuclear power inspectors should visit israel more often.

What is it with everyone thinking that nuclear meltdown means a nuclear detonation? It is TV and movie fiction. A meltdown is exactly as the name implies, the cooling system fails along with all the backup safety protocols allowing the fuel rods to overheat and melt through the containment chamber.
This results in radioactive material getting into the surrounding earth and ground water. The ground water works its way back up through the soil radiating everything above. There is no mushroom cloud and there is no fallout.