(VOVworld) – North Korea appears to have reactivated its plutonium site at Yongbyon, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said.
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| North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear reactor (Photo: Reuters) |
IAEA experts have no access to North Korea’s nuclear facilities after being thrown out in 2009, so they rely largely on satellite data which has showed vehicles moving around the site and indications of cooling water being discharged. North Korean observers have also said that in recent months that the plant appears to be working again.
The Yongbyon site processes fuel from power stations and produces plutonium for North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The reactor was shut down in 2007 in an "aid-for-disarmament" agreement but was upgraded following North Korea’s 3rd nuclear test in 2013. US National Intelligence Director James Clapper said in February that the reactor had begun to produce plutonium in recent weeks or months. The reactor could produce enough plutonium to fuel one nuclear bomb per year.