Progress Is Cited on New Reactor in North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea — While the region’s attention has remained focused on whether the new North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, can consolidate his power, his country has been making significant progress in the construction of a new reactor widely seen as a cover for making more fuel for nuclear weapons, analyst say, citing satellite imagery of the building site.

The analysts have released their assessments this month, with the latest one coming Tuesday from an expert at IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly. 

The experimental light-water reactor under construction — and North Korea’s efforts to enrich uranium — could eventually provide the country with a means to increase its nuclear stockpile significantly, experts have warned. 

After its negotiations with the United States collapsed in 2009, North Korea announced that it would build an indigenously designed light-water reactor as a pilot project for a nuclear power industry, and that it would also enrich uranium to fuel that reactor. The government unveiled in 2010 a centrifuge plant for enrichment in Yongbyon, its main nuclear complex. But experts say North Korea may also use the plant to produce highly enriched uranium, a type of fuel for nuclear bombs. 

The reactor under construction in Yongbyon could be designed to allow engineers to turn its spent fuel into plutonium, another fuel for nuclear arms. 

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Korea: Nuclear reactor shut down for safety reasons

Reactor 6 at Younggwang Nuclear Power Plant in South Jeolla province was shut down again on July 30 due to a malfunctioning reactor rod.

The reactor rod functions as a safety shield for reactors. The basic structure of a reactor can be simplified as follows: heat is produced when neutrons come into contact with uranium, and that heat turns the turbines to generate electricity.

The main challenge of reactor safety is keeping that fission stable. The Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear accident in history, occurred because the reactor rods were removed quickly, which stimulated fission. The repeated problems with Younggwang reactor 6 have residents in the area nervous. Reactor 6 first broke down during a 2002 trial run.

Since then, it has gone out of action 9 times in past 10 years. Among those cases, some were trivial, due to lightning strikes and a mistake on operation. But in Dec. 2008, the reactor was stopped because warning signals appeared, indicating the reactor rod was in the wrong position.

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Korea: IAEA to inspect Gori-1 nuclear power plant

The International Atomic Energy Agency is to inspect Korea’s oldest nuclear power plant Gori-1 in response to the growing public concerns over its safety following a shutdown of the plant earlier this year, officials said.

The eight-member IAEA expert team will begin a week-long inspection on Monday in Busan at the request of the operator Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., the company announced Sunday.

The Gori-1 nuclear plant, which began operation in 1978 in the northern part of Busan, had completed its life span in 2007. But it was granted a 10-year extension in 2008, following an inspection by the IAEA.

The country’s oldest nuclear plant caused controversy in February when one of its two reactors temporarily lost power during a safety check.

The power cut did not lead to any damage, but it caused a public uproar as the engineers were found to have tried to cover up the mishap.

The IAEA inspection team will check the durability of the pressure vessel surrounding the reactor, and will release an inspection report before finishing up on June 11, the KHNP said in a statement.

Meanwhile, environmental groups in Busan claim that the IAEA’s inspection is a “mere formality,” of the state-run operator’s effort to gain permission to continue operating the reactor.

Korea currently operates 21 nuclear reactors with seven others under construction, and of the 21 operational reactors, nine have been running for more than two decades.

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North Korea 'resuming work' on nuclear reactor

Julian Ryall in Tokyo

North Korea recently declared that "the day is near at hand" when the light-water reactor, at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, will become operational.

Analysts at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said pictures from commercial satellites taken on April 12 and compared with images from December 24 show that work on the reactor containment building is nearly completed.

Construction cranes are visible in the images, along with stockpiles of construction equipment. Cooling pipes for the intake and discharge systems are also being laid.

The next step will be the introduction of components such as the pressure vessel, steam generators and pressurising equipment, which might take a further 12 months.

Completing associated construction, including the installation of electronics in the control room, may mean the reactor is not operational for to years, but the stepping up of the work indicates that Pyongyang is showing no signs of bowing to international pressure on its nuclear or missile programmes.

Three weeks after the catastrophic failure of what Pyongyang claimed was a rocket to put a satellite into orbit, the regime vowed to push ahead with what it claims are peaceful space and nuclear programmes.
Pyongyang's defiance came after the five nations of the United Nations Security Council - significantly including China, North Korea's sole major ally - issued a statement expressing "serious concern" at North Korea's activities. The five governments called on the regime to "refrain from any further actions which may cause grave security concerns in the region, including any nuclear tests."
"The rapid construction of the plant may be an important indication of Pyongyang's intention to move forward as quickly as possible with its uranium enrichment effort - to produce fuel for the reactor and potentially fissile material for nuclear weapons," Joel Wit, a visiting fellow at the institute, wrote in a paper.
North Korea claims that its uranium enrichment programme is designed to provide low-enriched fuel for new light-water reactors, but it will also be able to produce weapons-grade uranium.
A second issue, Wit wrote, is the safety of the reactors.
"Whether North Korea's new reactors are designed or will be operated according to internationally accepted safety standards is another serious concern," he said. "Particularly in view of Pyongyang's past practices and the recent disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant."

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NKorea nuclear reactor construction progressing

 By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - A U.S.-based institute said Wednesday new satellite imagery shows that North Korea has resumed building work on a reactor after months of inactivity.
That indicates the North is pressing on with efforts to expand its nuclear program, the institute says, despite international criticism. North Korea says the reactor is intended to generate electricity but its active pursuit of nuclear weapons raises doubts over its intentions.
The image from a commercial satellite dated April 30 shows progress in construction of the containment building for the light-water reactor at the North's main nuclear facility at Yongbyon, according to the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
But the institute says the reactor is unlikely to become operational before 2014 or 2015.
Two U.S. academics who visited the site in November 2010 and have studied subsequent satellite imagery, say the reactor appears designed for electricity generation. Other experts fear the reactor could eventually produce plutonium for bombs.
Pyongyang expelled U.N. monitors from its nuclear facilities three years ago, and there is international concern the secretive nation could soon conduct its third nuclear test, after a failed long-range rocket launch last month.
"Regardless of problems with its missiles and uncertainty about another nuclear test, the North is plowing ahead with this reactor, a key part of Pyongyang's strategy to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal," said Joel Wit, editor of the institute's website, 38 North.
In November 2010, North Korea unveiled to the U.S. academics a sophisticated uranium enrichment workshop which the North says would provide fuel for the reactor when it is complete, but its centrifuges might be reconfigured to produce weapons-grade highly enriched uranium, giving it a new source of fissile material for arms. North Korea already has reprocessed spent fuel from an older reactor at Yongbyon to extract plutonium used in its two past nuclear tests.
The institute says after rapid progress in building the new reactor in 2011, satellite images showed work stopped between late December and early February but restarted by late March. The pause may have been due, in part, to the December death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il, but a more likely explanation was that winter weather was approaching, it says.
The April 30 image shows steel rebar and concrete have been added to the cylindrical portion of the reactor containment building that now appears higher than in previous photos. The domed roof lies on the ground next to the building as in previous photos, with cylindrical sections ready for installation, the institute says.

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