What Happens If Iran Strikes Israel’s Dimona Nuclear Reactor?

As tensions surge in the Middle East following U.S. strikes on Iran’s top nuclear sites, Iranian officials have issued direct threats, including a possible attack on Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor. The facility, long believed to be the foundation of Israel’s secretive nuclear weapons program, holds deep strategic and symbolic weight.

Dimona is not a civilian energy site—it was built to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, making it a "breeder reactor." Unlike civilian reactors such as Iran’s Bushehr, it contains smaller amounts of nuclear fuel and operates with low-enriched uranium. Despite this, experts warn that striking Dimona could trigger an environmental catastrophe.

Israel is estimated to have around 90 nuclear warheads and enough fissile material for hundreds more. The Dimona facility has recently undergone security and technical upgrades. Reports from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) suggest that Israel has tested rocket propulsion systems possibly linked to Jericho-class ballistic missiles, capable of carrying nuclear payloads.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, a direct missile strike on the reactor could lead to the release of radioactive heavy water, sparking fires and explosions. These would produce radioactive clouds that could drift over populated areas, threatening human life, wildlife, agriculture, and long-term environmental health. Although the immediate danger zone around the reactor is relatively limited—about five kilometers—the effects of such a strike could extend far beyond.

The fallout from an attack would not only create a humanitarian and ecological disaster but could also escalate into a full-scale regional or even nuclear conflict. It would mark a dangerous shift in the ongoing confrontation between Iran and Israel, with irreversible global consequences.