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Log inIAEA: NKorea plans to activate Yongbyon reactor
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IAEA: NKorea plans to activate Yongbyon reactor
by Outspoken on Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:08 am
IAEA: NKorea plans to activate Yongbyon reactor
By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria - North Korea plans to start reinserting some of the plutonium-producing nuclear material into its Yongbyon reactor within a week, the chief U.N. nuclear inspector said Wednesday.
The move is a further sign that the North is making good on threats to restart a nuclear program that allowed it to conduct a test explosion two years ago.
"The DPRK has ... informed the IAEA inspectors that they plan to introduce nuclear material to the reprocessing plant in one week's time," Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency told IAEA board.
He also said that — acting on a North Korean request — his inspectors removed all agency seals and surveillance equipment from the reactor and its immediate area, in "work that was completed today."
The North Koreans "further stated that from here on the IAEA inspectors will have no further access to the reprocessing plant," said an IAEA statement citing ElBaradei.
North Korea in recent days had already signaled it would break out of a six-nation disarmament-for-aid deal, announcing that it was making "thorough preparations" to start up Yongbyon.
The agency has been monitoring the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, which were shut down and then sealed as part of a North Korean pledge to disable its nuclear program. That move was meant to be a step toward eventually dismantling Yongbyon in return for diplomatic concessions and energy aid equivalent to 1 million tons of oil under a February 2007 deal with South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
The accord hit a snag in mid-August when the U.S. refused to remove North Korea from its list of states that sponsor terrorism until the North accepts a plan to verify a declaration of its nuclear programs it submitted earlier.
The Yongbyon reactor was under IAEA seals in December 2002 when the North decided to order IAEA inspectors out of the country and restart its mothballed nuclear activities, after a deal committing the U.S. to help Pyongyang build a peaceful nuclear program unraveled.
It subsequently quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty in January 2003 and announced it had nuclear weapons a little more than two years later.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080924/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nuclear_nkorea;_ylt=ArHNls7dFX7bN_4xt6Qx1h.s0NUE
(AP Photo/Space Imaging Asia, File)
By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria - North Korea plans to start reinserting some of the plutonium-producing nuclear material into its Yongbyon reactor within a week, the chief U.N. nuclear inspector said Wednesday.
The move is a further sign that the North is making good on threats to restart a nuclear program that allowed it to conduct a test explosion two years ago.
"The DPRK has ... informed the IAEA inspectors that they plan to introduce nuclear material to the reprocessing plant in one week's time," Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency told IAEA board.
He also said that — acting on a North Korean request — his inspectors removed all agency seals and surveillance equipment from the reactor and its immediate area, in "work that was completed today."
The North Koreans "further stated that from here on the IAEA inspectors will have no further access to the reprocessing plant," said an IAEA statement citing ElBaradei.
North Korea in recent days had already signaled it would break out of a six-nation disarmament-for-aid deal, announcing that it was making "thorough preparations" to start up Yongbyon.
The agency has been monitoring the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, which were shut down and then sealed as part of a North Korean pledge to disable its nuclear program. That move was meant to be a step toward eventually dismantling Yongbyon in return for diplomatic concessions and energy aid equivalent to 1 million tons of oil under a February 2007 deal with South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
The accord hit a snag in mid-August when the U.S. refused to remove North Korea from its list of states that sponsor terrorism until the North accepts a plan to verify a declaration of its nuclear programs it submitted earlier.
The Yongbyon reactor was under IAEA seals in December 2002 when the North decided to order IAEA inspectors out of the country and restart its mothballed nuclear activities, after a deal committing the U.S. to help Pyongyang build a peaceful nuclear program unraveled.
It subsequently quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty in January 2003 and announced it had nuclear weapons a little more than two years later.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080924/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nuclear_nkorea;_ylt=ArHNls7dFX7bN_4xt6Qx1h.s0NUE
(AP Photo/Space Imaging Asia, File)
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