[NEWS FOCUS]Nuclear facilities, capacities in North Korea

Now that North Korea has agreed to dismantle whatever nuclear programs it has, focus is now shifting onto what kind of nuclear facilities and activities it operates and whether it does in fact possess or is even capable of producing nuclear weapons.

However, none of the governments involved in the six-party dialogue have been able to confirm the existence or numbers of nuclear weapons that may lie in the North, saying they lack the intelligence information to do so.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which handles nuclear inspections worldwide, also reports that it was not given adequate opportunity to get a comprehensive picture of the North`s nuclear activities during searches it carried out between 1992 and 2002, when the IAEA was forced to leave the communist state.

Nuclear activities are basically categorized into two types of programs - plutonium and uranium.

There are currently 16 plutonium-related nuclear facilities reported by North Korea to the IAEA according to the stipulations of the Nonproliferation Treaty.

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The IAEA divides the North`s nuclear programs into two phases: the first one started in the late 1950s when a nuclear complex was constructed in Yongbyon with the help of the Soviet Union.

The second phase began in 1979 and involved the construction of a 5 megawatt electric natural-uranium, graphite-moderated reactor, an ore processing plant and a fuel rod fabrication plant.

The 5 megawatt reactor was completed and ready for operation and two larger gas-graphite reactors were begun in 1986. In 1987, the construction of a radiochemical laboratory with reprocessing capacity was begun.

Uranium plants and uranium refinery plants in Sunchon, Pakchon and Pyongsan are also scheduled to be dismantled.

Upon announcing its withdrawal from the NPT, North Korea extracted 8,000 spent fuel rods from the 5 megawatt reactor.

Fuel rods are made by distilling natural uranium, which are then burnt at a nuclear power reactor to become spent fuel rods.

Each spent fuel rod contains about 1 percent of Plutonium 239, which can be converted into nuclear weapons by reprocessing them to contain over 90 percent of Plutonium 239. Manufacturing a high-quality nuclear warhead requires at least 99 percent of Plutonium 239 purity.

This method of developing nuclear weapons is relatively simple and cheap compared to another manufacturing process whereby uranium is enriched.

Plutonium-based production is not easy to hide from satellite detection, while uranium enrichment processing can easily be hidden.

Experts estimate that based on North Korea`s assertion in May this year that it finished extracting 8,000 spent fuel rods, it may have the capacity to create up to eight nuclear warheads.

The United States claimed the North admitted to having a program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons in 2002, leading to a suspension of the 1994 Agreed Framework and later the deportation of the IAEA inspectors.

Enriching uranium only requires a small-scale centrifuge that can be hidden underground, meaning it is crucial for North Korea to report the facility voluntarily should it have any such facilities when the next round of IAEA inspections begin.

Debate has arisen over whether the joint statement signed by the six parties in Beijing incorporated a caveat on the enrichment of uranium within the phrase "existing nuclear programs."

The matter is likely to be among the heated points of negotiation when the fifth round of talks resume in November.

Top U.S. negotiator to the six-party talks Christopher Hill said last week that his government does not wish to play hide-and-seek with the North anymore and that the North should report all the nuclear programs it carries.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that his government has commenced planning on how to implement in detail the set of principles agreed among the six parties including the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia in Beijing.

"We have begun to prepare the implementation plan that includes detailed measures and sequences focused around nuclear dismantlement and compensations," Ban said at the weekly news briefing.

He added that the government was pushing to hold prior meetings with relevant counterparts before the opening of the next round of talks and that it expected due efforts made by all parties to bring about positive action and smooth negotiations.

(angiely@heraldm.com)



By Lee Joo-hee