Scholar says North Korea to unload fuel rods at nuclear reactor within 3 months

AP via Sign On San Diego ^ | Sept 23, 2006 | Alexa Olesen

[jdm]

BEIJING – North Korea is planning to unload fuel rods at its Yongbyon reactor within the next three months in what would be a significant boost to its nuclear weapons capability, an American scholar said Saturday.

During a meeting this past week in Pyongyang, Selig Harrison said that North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan told him that the communist nation would unload the rods “beginning this fall, and no later than the end of the year.”

Removing the fuel rods is “a significant new development because it underlines that North Korea is enhancing its weapons capability,” Harrison, director of the Asia program at the Washington-based Center for International Policy, told reporters shortly after arriving from a four-day stay in North Korea.

The Yongbyon reactor has been at the center of U.S. concerns about North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The reactor's spent fuel rods can be mined for plutonium, which then can be used to construct nuclear bombs.

North Korea has stayed away from six-nation nuclear talks – which include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S. – since last year in anger over U.S. financial restrictions against the North for its alleged complicity in counterfeiting and money laundering.

North Korea has insisted it won't return to the talks unless the U.S. drops its sanctions. Pyongyang claims to have nuclear weapons and further stoked regional tension in July by test-firing a series of missiles over international objections, drawing condemnation from the U.N. Security Council.

During this trip, Harrison said he met with a vice president of the Supreme People's Assembly, Kim Yong Dae, a senior military figure, Lt. Gen. Ri Chan Bok as well as with the foreign minister.

The North Korean officials would neither confirm nor deny the country was planning to conduct a nuclear test, Harrison said.

[jdm]

ping

[MNJohnnie]

Well then we know when to bomb them

[RightWhale]

How much plutonium can they get from these fuel rods?

[darkwing104]

I wonder if AP knows about the process of refueling a nuclear reactor? If it a fission reactor then those spent fuel rods are useless for making nuclear weapons. The only exception would be "Dirty Bombs" The story is crap.

[xarmydog]

I hope they use their bare hands!

[LSUfan]

When dealing with a country like North Korea, there is no such thing as a "significant boost" in their nuclear weapons capability.

Once they have one bomb, they become untouchable. It is generally believed that North Korea had between 1 and 3 bombs back in 1998.

The lesson here is that you cannot let a rogue nation get nuclear weapons. The last thing we want is a nuclear armed Iran providing an umbrella for Jihadist terrorist groups.

The main danger from North Korea now is proliferation to Iran. Assuming Iran does not yet have The Bomb, the quickest way for them to get one would be to buy it with petrodollars from cash-poor North Korea.

[Nathan Zachary]

"drawing condemnation from the U.N. Security Council."

Condemnation, Wow! That's worse than a strongly worded letter.

[Nathan Zachary]

This is a heavy water reactor, as the article says, the fuel rods can be reprocessed and the plutonium, which is a by product of the reaction, refined from them.
They are correct, except they didn't describe the process.
That's what centrifuges are used for. It takes a lot longer than 3 months however. Those things have to sit in a cooling pond for quite a while before they can be reprocessed.

[darkwing104]

After reading up on the plant. I figure it is only a ploy to get bilateral talks with the U.S. This would boost Kim Il ego, and in his mind, making North Korea a world power (In his dreams) This plant is similar to Chernobyl with a few Chinese enhancement. The only way I figure they can get Plutonium from these spent rods is from by getting a little help from China, India, Pakistan, Russia, Iran or possibly Israel.

Russia and China better pay attention this nut case, like Iran, don't care who they would use nuclear weapons against.

[RightWhale]

you cannot let a rogue nation get nuclear weapons

Break this down into meaningful parts of speech. Who is 'you'? What does 'cannot let' mean? Nobody says 'rogue nation' anymore, that's a Clinton era term. 'Get' could be anything from buy to build. What is special about 'nuclear weapons' that they mean anything at all these days?

Point is that any sovereign nation can do whatever it wants until it starts imposing its will on other nations. Even then it can impose its will on other sovereign nations until it loses the war.

[MirrorField]

Wrong. Plutonium extraction doesn't use centrifuges.

Plutonium is extracted from spent nuclear fuel in altogether different process(es). For basic information, see here and here.

[LSUfan]

Dear Lord, you are a confused man.

There are more verbal contortions in your post than a Bill Clinton deposition. The term "rogue nation" preceded Clinton's election and, yes, it is still used today.

If you don't understand what is "special" about "nuclear weapons" then there is simply no hope for you.

[RightWhale]

The state will not subscribe to individual ethics.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #10

Actually, they want the financial sanction to be lifted. U.S. always said they are open for bilateral talk of some kind, but financial sanction is off the table in any kind of meeting.