North Korea may have more plutonium than the world thinks, according to monitor
North Korea has conducted five underground nuclear tests since 2006, and carried out its first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile earlier this month
New images of North Korea’s main nuclear facility show that the isolated regime has apparently produced more plutonium for its weapons programme than previously thought, a US monitor said, as tensions soar over Pyongyang’s ambitions.
The respected 38 North website, a monitoring project linked to Johns Hopkins university, said on Friday that thermal imagery of the Yongbyon nuclear complex appeared to show that Pyongyang had reprocessed spent fuel rods at least twice between last September and June this year.
“The Radiochemical Laboratory operated intermittently and there have apparently been at least two unreported reprocessing campaigns to produce an undetermined amount of plutonium that can further increase North Korea’s nuclear weapons stockpile,” it said.
North Korea deactivated the Yongbyon reactor in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament accord, but began renovating it after Pyongyang’s third nuclear test in 2013.
There have apparently been at least two unreported reprocessing campaigns to produce an undetermined amount of plutonium
Increased thermal activity was also noted at Yongbyon’s uranium enrichment facility but it was unclear whether this indicated a push to increase supplies, possibly for weapons, or if it was part of maintenance operations, the website said.