North Korea is building light-water reactor: report

North Korea is building light-water reactor: report

www.reuters.com

(Reuters) - North Korea is building an experimental light-water reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear facility, Kyodo news reported on Saturday, citing Siegfried Hecker, former chief of the Los Alomos National Laboratory.

Hecker told reporters in Beijing that he was informed of the construction by North Korea and the output of the reactor was on a scale of 25 to 30 megawatts, according to the report.

Hecker recently visited North Korea, the report said.

He also said that the construction has just begun and it would take several years to complete it.

North Korea has tried to secure a ligh

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This was just reported for all the balloon boy theories about north korea letting off some balloons filled with chemicals maybe Ican bring your attention to THEY ARE NOT DUMB!!!!
A five-megawatt graphite-moderated reactor at Yongbyon has produced arms-grade plutonium that officials and experts believe the North used to build several nuclear bombs.
Trust me they are not playing with ballons!!!!!

All they have to do is give one of these to IRAN or the taliban and have them sneak a dirty bomb into a major city and NK can play dumb like they didn't even know where the hell it came from....






www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Didn't the US give North Korea light-water reactors in the '90s? Or was that something discussed, but never carried out?

reply to post by thecinic


The article also says this, however:

The type of reactor is considered relatively proliferation-resistant, meaning it is unlikely to be diverted for an arms programme.

If they are building this and it is tough to make weapons with it, there is much less for the world to worry about.

1994 deal between North Korea and the United States was intended to provide the destitute state with two 1,000-megawatt light-water reactors built by an international consortium, but the agreement fell apart in 2006 after the North was accused of pursuing a nuclear arms programme...

It did not work out very well because they did build nuclear bombs with their peaceful power program that is how they have them now..

It does not say it is impossible they will be able to produce MASS amount of plutonium way more then before. It is being told in the news like North Korea is dumb or something and people buy it because they do not care to think what if they gave a few nukes to the wrong people and blew up your family??

Just like they thought it was unlikly that their peaceful power program wasn't going to turn into making them a nuke sate.

reply to post by thecinic


Never the less, the article explicitly states that using the new reactor is less likely to result in new warhead creation because of the way it works. If they havent got the sort of reactor that they need in order to make bombs, then they cannot make them, its simple . Isnt all this a bit sensationalist?

reply to post by thecinic


they havent even mastered nuclear energy... just sayin

reply to post by thecinic


Thanks for posting, S&F.

Just for the record, even if the story about the balloons is true, that does not imply stupidity on NK's part.
Certainly, that was not my implication.

Very educated bright men join together in the UK as part of The Royal Society, and have proposed changing the entire planets weather with just such balloons. Sure, they wont have to worry about the military shooting those down...thats the only difference. Its obviously a very researched, and effective way of delivery.

North Korea has at least since the 1950 invasion had many suprises to deliver. You just never know about North Korea.

reply to post by poap420


They probably have not yet but then again i am pretty sure that China will help them out with all the goodies they have.

Originally posted by InvisibleAlbatross
Didn't the US give North Korea light-water reactors in the '90s? Or was that something discussed, but never carried out?

That was the initial push, to allow them the light water reactors because they did not produce the material used for nuclear weapons.

Heavy water reactors are the ones who create the material for nukes. N. Korea is not a signatory to the NPT, and the fact they notified China amazed the crap out of me. I am curious if son is running the country now.

I think kim jong un might be be in for the battle of his lifetime at some point.

reply to post by thecinic


I think it will be over with when Kim jong il dies. I dont think his son is going to have the cojones to hold onto power.

So is light-water reactor closely related with nuke?I think that N.K is not so silly to tell others thing about their nuke.