According to a ‘Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ report, Israel stopped its nuclear weapon development in 2004, after almost 40 years of its nuclear program.

Jerusalem has never confirmed nor denied possession of any nuclear devises.

By Ynet

A review of global nuclear weapons inventories published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists noted that the number of Israel’s nuclear warheads, the manufacturing of which has systematically progressed since 1967, has not grown – remaining at 80 – since 2004.

Alleged Israeli nuclear reactor in Dimona – Photo: Tsafrir Abayov

The review is accompanied by a chart that calculates the nuclear stockpiles of the US, Russia, UK, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea since 1945.

As per Israel’s progression, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ chart, from two warheads in 1967, the State has increased its number of warheads by an average of two per year, until it reached 80 in 2004 and then, according to the report’s calculations, ceased further manufacturing.

In accordance with its policies of “nuclear ambiguity,” Israel has never confirmed nor denied its possession of nuclear weapons.

Nevertheless, in December 2012, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution calling on Israel to open its nuclear program for inspection and backing a high-level conference to ban nuclear weapons from the Middle East which was just canceled.

The Wall Street Journal argued earlier this week that disarming Syria would focus global attention on Israel’s suspected arsenals.

According to the WSJ, Western and Arab diplomats have noted that if Syria was forced to surrender its stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, other nations in the regions might be forced to do the same.

According to calculations of Hans M. Kristensen and Robert S. Norris, the authors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists report, “some 125,000 nuclear warheads have been built since 1945, about 97% of them by the United States and the Soviet Union and Russia.”

View original Ynet publication at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4429556,00.html