- 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 haeksisŏlThe 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 firstnuclear reactor s. It is located in the county ofNyŏngbyŏn inNorth Pyongan province, 103km north ofPyongyang .Facilities
The major installations include all aspects of a
Magnox nuclear reactor fuel cycle, based on the use ofnatural uranium fuel:
* a fuel fabrication plant,
* a 5MWe experimental reactor producing power and district heating,
* a short-term spent fuel storage facility,
* a fuel reprocessing facility that recoversuranium andplutonium from spent fuel using thePUREX process.Magnox spent fuel is not designed for long-term storage as both the casing anduranium metal core react with water, it is designed to be reprocessed within a few years of removal from a reactor. As acarbon dioxide cooled, graphite moderated Magnox reactor does not require difficult-to-produceenriched uranium fuel orheavy 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 theSoviet Union in1963 , operational since1965 . [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 produceIodine-131 forthyroid 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 until1994 when it was shut down in accordance with theU.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. Thespent nuclear fuel has been reprocessing with an estimated yield of about 45 kg ofplutonium metal, some of which was used for thenuclear weapon involved in the2006 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 thatNorth Korea will shut down and seal the Yongbyon nuclear facility, including the reprocessing facility and invite backInternational Atomic Energy Agency personnel to conduct all necessary monitoring and verifications. In return for thisNorth 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 overBanco 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] OnJuly 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 retrievedJuly 14 2007 ] The next day, IAEA chiefMohamed 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 ] On18 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 - thecooling 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)
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