Environment Minister Yossi Sarid has once again reassured the Israeli public that certain recreational spots in the Negev with radiation levels higher than those in surrounding areas pose no health danger.
Sarid was responding over the weekend to continued complaints by environmental activists that waste from the nation’s top-secret nuclear research reactor near Dimona is endangering parts of the popular Little Crater hiking area in the northern Negev.
Among those expressing concerns were members of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and the Parks Authority.
Sarid said that while the radiation levels at particular spots in the crater are indeed higher than the overall levels in the crater and elsewhere, the maximum found in continuing radiation level counts is well below accepted danger levels.
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