In 1957, France provided support and approval, supplying Israel with a heavy-water, pressurized reactor. Dimona entered operation around 1963, with a reported capacity of 26 megawatts.

At the heart of the facility’s significance is its role in handling nuclear fuel.

Dimona processes spent nuclear fuel, described as the first stage in producing the atomic bomb, with the fuel then transferred elsewhere to be stored or mounted on missiles.

By 1967, reports cited from the US State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research pointed to a reprocessing plant for uranium and production of weapons-usable plutonium, concluding that Israel possessed a nuclear bomb.