hankyoreh

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

North Korea may have its Yongbyon nuclear facilities back running and capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium within as early as one to two months, according to a report on a US website.

38 North, which is operated by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, posted a report on May 3, which stated that commercial satellite images taken on April 22 showed North Korea to have made “important progress” with its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, including a 5 MWe gas-graphite reactor and a 20 to 30 MWe Experimental Light Water Reactor (ELWR).

The gas-graphite reactor in question was shut down and disabled following an agreement reached at the six-party talks on October 3, 2007. North Korea’s General Bureau of Atomic Energy announced on April 22 that it was reactivating all facilities at Yongbyon.

The report stated that North Korea was “nearing completion of work necessary to restart the 5 MWe reactor used to produce North Korea’s supply of weapons-grade plutonium,” noting that new secondary reactor cooling equipment appeared to be “almost finished.”

The new cooling system involves connecting cooling equipment to a pump house rather than building a new cooling tower, the previous one having been destroyed on June 27, 2008.

“Piles of construction material are on the road and a probable truck delivering this material is present. This material is probably related to continued work inside the reactor building,” the report continued.

The report predicted that the 5 MWe reactor could be on line within as early as one to two months, but added that the availability of the new rods needed to power it “remains unclear.”

“Once the reactor is operational, it will be able to produce 6 kilograms of plutonium per year,” it said.

The report also noted the construction of a building to store spent fuel rods and water tanks to supply the water needed to store them.

According to the report, interior work also appears to be nearly finished on the new ELWR, with efforts under way now to hook the existing power line to a substation located by the reactor.

“They may still be months away from beginning a shakedown period that could last as little as 9-12 months before the reactor becomes fully operational,” the report said.

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