Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center

__NOTOC__Infobox Korean name|context=north

|caption=The 5 MWe experimental reactor
hangul=녕변핵시설
hanja=寧邊核施設
rr=Nyeongbyeon haeksiseol
mr=Nyŏngbyŏn haeksisŏl

The Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center ["Yongbyon" is spelled and pronounced 녕변 (Nyŏngbyŏn) in North Korea and 영변 (Yŏngbyŏn) in South Korea.] is North Korea's major nuclear facility, operating its first nuclear reactors. It is located in the county of Nyŏngbyŏn in North Pyongan province, 103km north of Pyongyang.

Facilities

The major installations include all aspects of a Magnox nuclear reactor fuel cycle, based on the use of natural uranium fuel:
* a fuel fabrication plant,
* a 5 MWe experimental reactor producing power and district heating,
* a short-term spent fuel storage facility,
* a fuel reprocessing facility that recovers uranium and plutonium from spent fuel using the PUREX process.Magnox spent fuel is not designed for long-term storage as both the casing and uranium metal core react with water, it is designed to be reprocessed within a few years of removal from a reactor. As a carbon dioxide cooled, graphite moderated Magnox reactor does not require difficult-to-produce enriched uranium fuel or heavy water moderator it is an attractive choice for a wholly indigenous nuclear reactor development.

The Magnox facilities were disabled in 2007, in accord with the six-party talks agreement.

The center also has an IRT-2M pool-type research reactor, supplied by the Soviet Union in 1963, operational since 1965. [cite web |title=Research Reactor Details - IRT-DPRK |url=http://www.iaea.org/cgi-bin/rrdb.page.pl/rrdeta.htm?country=KP&site=IRT-DPRK&facno=258 |date=1996-07-30 |accessdate=2007-02-14 |publisher=International Atomic Energy Agency] As the center has not received fresh fuel since Soviet times, this reactor is now only run occasionally to produce Iodine-131 for thyroid cancer radiation therapy.

History

Construction of the 5 MWe experimental reactor began in 1980, and the reactor first went critical in August 1985. This reactor was an initial small technology proving reactor for a following development program of larger Magnox reactors. It operated intermittently until 1994 when it was shut down in accordance with the U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework. Following the breakdown of the Agreed Framework in 2002, operation restarted in February 2003, creating plutonium within its fuel load at a rate of about 5 kg per year. The reactor fuel was replaced between April and June 2005. The spent nuclear fuel has been reprocessing with an estimated yield of about 45 kg of plutonium metal, some of which was used for the nuclear weapon involved in the 2006 North Korean nuclear test. [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/world/asia/17diplo.html North Korean Fuel Identified as Plutonium] , Thom Shanker and David E. Sanger, New York Times, October 17, 2006]

Yongbyon is also the site of a 50 MWe Magnox prototype power reactor, but construction was halted in 1994 about a year from completion in accord with the Agreed Framework, and by 2004 the structures and pipework had deteriorated badly. By 2005 North Korea had redesigned the plant, so reconstruction could commence.

Another 200 MWe Magnox full-scale power reactor was being constructed at Taechon, 20 km north-west of Yongbyon, until construction was also halted in 1994 in accord with the Agreed Framework. By 2005 reconstruction of this reactor was uneconomic.

2007 shutdown

On Tuesday 13 February, 2007, an agreement was reached at the Six party talks that North Korea will shut down and seal the Yongbyon nuclear facility, including the reprocessing facility and invite back International Atomic Energy Agency personnel to conduct all necessary monitoring and verifications. In return for this North Korea will receive emergency energy assistance from the other 5 parties in the form of 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors arrived at the site on June 28 to discuss verification and monitoring arrangements for the shutdown. [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/06/27/koreas.nuclear.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest U.N. nuke inspectors go to N. Korea reactor] , "CNN", published 2007-06-27, accessed 2007-07-03] This had been delayed from April due to a dispute with the United States over Banco Delta Asia. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6461379.stm|title=N Korea warning on nuclear deal|author=James Reynolds|publisher=BBC News|date=17 March 2007|accessdate=2007-03-17] On June 3 an anonymous South Korean government official indicated that the shutdown may start following the first oil shipment later in the month. [cite news|url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aOV40WZ6Nk4M|title=North Korea Reactor Closure May Begin in Mid-July|author=Heejin Koo|publisher=Bloomberg|date=July 3, 2007|accessdate=2007-07-03] On July 14, Sean McCormack stated that North Korea had told the US that the reactor had been shut down. He added that the US welcomed the news, and was awaiting verification from the IAEA team. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6899185.stm "N Korea "closes nuclear reactor"] BBC News retrieved July 14 2007] The next day, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei announced the UN's confirmation that the reactor had been shut down. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6900184.stm "UN confirms N Korea nuclear halt"] , "BBC News", 16 July 2007] On 18 July 2007, the IAEA confirmed that all five nuclear facilities at Yongbyon had been shut down. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6903894.stm "N Korea closes more nuclear sites"] , "BBC News", 18 July 2007]

In his Introductory Statement to the IAEA Board of Governors on 2008-03-03, the Director General stated that he could not provide an update on the disabling of the facilities, as it was not undertaken by the IAEA. All fuel rods from the 5 MW(e) Experimental Nuclear Power Plant and nuclear material generated by the disabling of the Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Plant were under IAEA containment and surveillance. [" [http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Statements/2008/ebsp2008n003.html#dprk Verification of Nuclear Non-Proliferation: Implementation of Safeguards in the DPRK] ", IAEA: Statements of the Director General, Vienna, 2008-03-03. Retrieved on 2008-04-26]

2008 cooling tower demolition

On Friday 27 June, 2008, North Korea destroyed the most visible symbol of its nuclear weapons program - the cooling tower at its main atomic reactor in the complex. The implosion was witnessed by a number of international journalists and diplomats. [cite news|url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23933319-2703,00.html|title=Blast gets North Korea off US blacklist|date=June 28, 2008|publisher=The Australian|accessdate=2008-07-10]

The demolition of the 60-foot-tall cooling tower, which carried off waste heat to the atmosphere, is a response to U.S. concessions after the North delivered a declaration of its nuclear programs to be dismantled. The United States paid the US$2.5 million demolition fee.cn|date=July 2008

Reactivation

Tensions have recently resurfaced between North Korea and the U.S. due to disagreements over the disarmament procedures being conducted by the two nations. As a result, it is suspected that North Korea has been sending supplies back to Yongbyon in preparations for its reactivation. As of October 8, 2008, IAEA inspectors have been forbidden by the North Korean government to conduct further inspections of the site.

ee also

*North Korea and weapons of mass destruction

References

External links

* [http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/IaeaDprk/facilities.shtml Facilities in the Democratic People´s Republic of Korea Under Agency Safeguards] – International Atomic Energy Agency, 31 December 2003
* [http://www.thebulletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=ja03alvarez North Korea: No bygones at Yongbyon] – Robert Alvarez, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July 2003
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/dprk/yongbyon.htm Background information and satellite images of Yongbyon] – GlobalSecurity.org
* [http://210.145.168.243/pk/188th_issue/2003012701.htm DPRK will re-open Nuclear Facilities to Produce Electricity] – Sin Yong Song, Vice Minister of Power and Coal Industries, 27 January 2003
* [http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2004_hr/012104hecker.pdf Visit to the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in North Korea] – Siegfried S. Hecker, 21 January 2004
* [http://www.carnegieendowment.org/static/npp/2005conference/presentations/hecker.pdf Technical summary of DPRK nuclear program] – Siegfried S. Hecker, 8 November 2005
* [http://fsi.stanford.edu/events/a_trip_report_from_north_korea/ Report of Visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea to Senate Foreign Relations Committee] – Siegfried S. Hecker, 17 March 2008
* [http://www.princeton.edu/~globsec/publications/pdf/5_1albright1.pdf North Korean Plutonium Production] , David Albright, ISIS – Science & Global Security, 1994, Volume 5, pp.63–87
* [http://www.princeton.edu/~globsec/publications/pdf/5_1albright.pdf North Korea’s Corroding Fuel] , David Albright, ISIS – Science & Global Security, 1994, Volume 5, pp. 89–97
* [http://www.defra.gov.uk/rwmac/reports/reprocess/16.htm Disposal of Magnox spent fuel] – BNFL, 14 November 2000
* [http://www.gao.gov/archive/1997/r497165.pdf Implementation of the U.S./North Korean Agreed Framework on Nuclear Issues] , GAO, June 1997 (GAO/RCED/NSIAD-97-165)
* [http://www.cmc.sandia.gov/cmc-papers/sand2005-1981p.pdf Dismantlement and Radioactive Waste Management of DPRK Nuclear Facilities] , Whang Jooho and George T. Baldwin, Sandia National Laboratories, April 2005 (SAND 2005-1981P)