New U.S. research has revealed that North Korea could be as little as one to two months away from restarting a nuclear reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear research facility in North Pyongan Province. However, it is unclear whether Pyongyang has the fuel rods needed to power the system, which would otherwise be capable of producing an estimated 6kg of plutonium per year.
The new information was published on June 3rd by the website 38 North, which is operated by the U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS. It follows analysis of recent commercial satellite imagery that suggests “the North Koreans have essentially finished repairing the cooling system necessary to restart and operate the reactor.”
Rather than rebuilding a cooling tower that was publicly destroyed in 2007 as part of an agreement pursuant to the Six-Party Talks, the new system “connects the secondary cooling system to the pump house that was built for its new Experimental Light Water Reactor (ELWR), which is located adjacent to the old reactor,” the report continues, adding that a reactor being built in Syria with North Korean help before it was destroyed by Israeli fighter jets also used a similar “pump house” cooling system.
The report also notes the presence of new, unidentified but seemingly urgent construction on the site, as well as work geared toward reconstructing a spent fuel facility.
The North Korean General Department of Atomic Energy announced on April 2nd that it was planning to restart the facility at Yongbyon, noting that the decision had been taken in accordance with the ‘Byungjin line’ of co-developing nuclear arms and the broader civilian economy, as adopted by the Chosun Workers’ Party in a late March full plenum of the Party Central Committee. The plan, a spokesperson for the department told Chosun Central News Agency at the time, would be “executed without delay.”
