Going Nuclear: North Korea Unveils New Uranium Enrichment Facility
- Posted on November 21, 2010 at 6:25pm by
Meredith Jessup
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP/TheBlaze) – North Korea’s claim of a new, highly sophisticated uranium enrichment facility could be a ploy to win concessions in nuclear talks or an attempt to bolster leader Kim Jong Il’s apparent heir. But whatever the reason for the revelation, which a seasoned American nuclear scientist called “stunning,” it provides a new set of worries for the Obama administration, which is sending its special envoy on North Korea for talks with officials in South Korea, Japan and China this week.
The scientist, Siegfried Hecker, said in a report posted Saturday that he was taken during a recent trip to the North’s main Yongbyon atomic complex to a small industrial-scale uranium enrichment facility. It had 2,000 recently completed centrifuges, he said, and the North told him it was producing low-enriched uranium meant for a new reactor.
Hecker, a former director of the U.S. Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory who is regularly given rare glimpses of the North’s secretive nuclear program, said the program had been built in secret and with remarkable speed.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said uranium enrichment activities would violate U.N. resolutions and agreements by North Korea over its nuclear program.
“From my perspective, it’s North Korea continuing on a path which is destabilizing for the region. It confirms or validates the concern we’ve had for years about their enriching uranium,” Mullen, the top U.S. military officer, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The Obama administration has shunned direct negotiations with North Korea following its nuclear and missile tests last year and in the wake of an international finding that a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he doesn’t believe the new facility is part of a peaceful nuclear energy program, adding that the uranium enrichment facility may be used for bomb-making.
Gates, traveling in Bolivia for a regional defense conference, also says North Korea has developed longer-range missiles that might deliver nuclear weapons.
North Korea told Hecker it began construction on the centrifuges in April 2009 and finished only a few days before the scientist’s Nov. 12 visit.
Hecker said his first glimpse of the North’s new centrifuges was “stunning.”
“Instead of seeing a few small cascades of centrifuges, which I believed to exist in North Korea, we saw a modern, clean centrifuge plant of more than a thousand centrifuges, all neatly aligned and plumbed below us,” wrote Hecker, a Stanford University professor.
Hecker described the control room as “astonishingly modern,” writing that, unlike other North Korean facilities, it “would fit into any modern American processing facility.”
The facilities appeared to be primarily for civilian nuclear power, not for North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, Hecker said. He saw no evidence of continued plutonium production at Yongbyon. But, he said, the uranium enrichment facilities “could be readily converted to produce highly enriched uranium bomb fuel.”
Uranium enrichment would give the North a second way to make atomic bombs, in addition to its known plutonium-based program. At low levels, uranium can be used in power reactors, but at higher levels it can be used in nuclear weapons. Hecker’s findings were first reported in The New York Times.
U.S. nuclear envoy Stephen Bosworth’s trip to Asia for talks on North Korea comes as new satellite images show construction under way at Yongbyon. That, combined with reports from Hecker and another American expert who recently traveled to the atomic complex, appear to show that the North is keeping its pledge to build a nuclear power reactor.
North Korea vowed in March to build a light-water reactor using its own nuclear fuel. Hecker, and Jack Pritchard, a former U.S. envoy for negotiations with North Korea, have said that construction has begun.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the Seoul-based University of North Korean Studies, said the North’s uranium disclosure is meant to force the United States back into nuclear negotiations.
The disclosure, Yang said, also is aimed at a domestic audience during the succession process. “The North wants to muster loyalty among military generals by showing them the North will continue to bolster its nuclear deterrent and uphold its military-first policy,” Yang said.
Light-water reactors are ostensibly for civilian energy purposes, but such a power plant would give the North a reason to enrich uranium. While light-water reactors are considered less prone to misuse than heavy-water reactors, once the process of uranium enrichment is mastered, it is relatively easy to enrich further to weapons-grade levels.
North Korea said last year it was in the final stage of enriching uranium, sparking worries that the country may add uranium-based weapons to its stockpile of bombs made from plutonium. Experts say the North has yielded enough weaponized plutonium for at least a half dozen atomic bombs.
Uranium can be enriched in relatively inconspicuous factories that are better able to evade spy satellite detection, according to U.S. and South Korean experts. Uranium-based bombs may also work without requiring test explosions like the two carried out by North Korea in 2006 and 2009 for plutonium-based weapons.
Hecker said the North Koreans emphasized that the centrifuge facility was operating; although he couldn’t verify that statement, he said “it was not inconsistent with what we saw.”
“The only hope” for dealing with the North’s nuclear program “appears to be engagement,” he wrote, calling a military attack “out of the question” and more sanctions “likewise a dead end.”
Many questions are still unanswered about North Korea’s nuclear program, Hecker wrote, including whether the North is really pursuing nuclear electricity, whether it’s abandoning plutonium production, how it obtained such sophisticated centrifuge technology, and why it’s revealing the facilities now.
“One thing is certain,” he said. “These revelations will cause a political firestorm.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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SgtB
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 1:19pmI don’t care what they develop. They live in another country and frankly, they have a right to do whatever they want within their borders. If they launch a nuke at San Francisco….not best choice… then I’ll start to care and it would warrant complete and total anhiliation of their soon to be piece of glass that they call home. Until that happens, don’t care.
Report Post »powhatan
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 10:43amSo like, do we even have a CIA anymore? Puhleese
Report Post »dizzyinthedark
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 7:33amAll of Barry’s “Let’s sit down and make nicey nice.” isn’t working, but he knew this all along.
WORST POTUS EVER!! Way to NOT lead, deceiver-in-chief. Go to your room you little child!
Report Post »jbl8199
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 2:14amI never understood why the let these terrorists roam free. I say send a couple nukes their way.
Report Post »1TrueOne55
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 2:00amCan anybody say they faked us out when they claimed to destroy that facility that they showed being blown up. They did that to clear a way for a new facility under ground near the same city… But time will tell if they can really make anything out of it. But this President is not the man for that Job nor is Hillary Clinton.
Report Post »mikenleeds
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 12:33amthe u.s and the u.n ain t going to do crap but talk ,, this is why the world thinks we are a joke and god knows since we have king obama running the country no way he s going to do anything because he s a liberal punk
Report Post »Rightpower
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 10:59pmNorth Korea says: Supplies Supplies we have making Nuke.
Anybody that thinks this is some kind of a surprise is living in a fools world.
Report Post »Nigel2
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 9:26pmIf I slept in the whitehouse I could put an end to N. Korean nuclear ambitions overnight without firing a shot.
Just tell the commie rat Chinese that if they don’t rein in N. Korea ASAP we are going to arm Japan and Taiwan with nukes. Problem solved.
Report Post »Exrepublisheep
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 2:39amhmmmmm…
Report Post »akim
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 8:34pmSOME DAY WE WILL CONTRACT FOR NORTH KOREA TO BUILD US SOME NUCLEAR REACTORS.
Can do.
Report Post »akim
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 8:33pmLEAST WE FORGET THAT CLINTON AND ALBRIGHT TRANSFERRED US NUCLEAR SECRETS TO NORTH KOREA AND ALSO ICBM TECHNOLOGY.
Clinton claimed that this nuclear technology was needed so North Korea could provide electricity for its people. North Korea happens to be a major source of coal. Some day those North Korean nuclear material will be delivered right here in America, but as Obama says We can absorbe an attack.
Report Post »NJartificer
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 8:15pmThe dummycrats and jounalsheep will want to use ths as the next “distraction”. Hopfully our vigilance can teach them some new multi-tasking skills
Report Post »NHABE64
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 7:49pmThis guy must be taken out, everyone knows it but nobody has the balls to do it. He has starved his people, he is a loose cannon and always has been He is a danger to security around the world and I do not believe we can count on China to subdue this maniac. He needs to be taken out for the good of the North Korean people and world peace.
Report Post »N37BU6
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 7:34pm“Wow, I’m so surprised!”
There, I tried my best.
Report Post »capitalismrocks
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 7:13pmJoint Chiefs need to seriously look into covertly working with the S. Korean govt and preparing Seoul for a rapid evacuation and then send in the Stealth Bombers and lay waste to the entire N. Korean army along the border and surgically target their rocket launchers aimed at Seoul, after their army is wiped out, a 2nd line of Stealth Bombers need to come in with F-22 and F-35 support, take out their entire C&C structure and then target their nuke facilities with MOAB’s and other high yield, non-Nuclear armaments and neuter N. Korea permanently…
Its time to end this 50 year stalemate with them and take them down, its at the point where we can no longer afford to have that Communist State exist any further, plus its population needs to be freed from decades of horror, famine and death that its leaders have held it under, its like a whole gulag nation that needs to be shut down and its people freed at long last.
Report Post »N37BU6
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 7:35pmI know lots of viper pilots who are just itching to unload some 2000lb LGBs up there…
Report Post »Exrepublisheep
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 7:45pmerrr, ummmm, o.k. I agree.
Report Post »LadyIzShy
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 7:04pmsigh… only a matter of time before they sell to Iran or some terrorst group..
Report Post »jefferson state
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 7:11pmThe former USSR already has those bases covered.
Report Post »tenbobby
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 6:44pmso this is Obama’s way of nonproliferation. give up all ours as others get theirs.
Report Post »FToth84
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 6:43pmNothing to look at here kids!! Seems like the bad news is closer and closer together these days.
Report Post »APatriotFirst
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 6:42pmOur glorious leader, Obamacakes wants to get rid of all of our nuke weapons. Good idea Barry. Why not just send them to NKorea and maybe to Iran also? I am sure you can make us defenseless in no time.
Report Post »Mister President
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 9:04pmYou seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of our nuclear arsenal. Our nukes were not built to be used; they were built to keep the other side from using theirs. Mr. Beck has explained this strategy – MAD, or mutually assured destruction. Nuclear war between the superpowers would’ve been a stalemate, so neither side had anything to gain from pushing the other too far.
Our conventional arsenal would be more than enough to take out the nuclear thereats posed by those rogue nations. Those nations would use their weapons for offensive purposes or, at least, thereaten to – we wouldn’t. That’s why they cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons.
Report Post »charliego
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 6:39pmSURPRISE!!!!!!! With love from Pyongyang. [:-))
Report Post »I wonder if they get enough centrifuges going and nuclear material collected that their country will at last display a marvelous light show from space.
snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 6:54pmMost likely the light show they intend will be upon one of our cities of Hawaii, Alaska, or the West Coast.
Report Post »guyperram
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 7:29pmlets hope the light show isn’t in the form of an EMP. Three (3) nukes at about 200 miles up would reek havoc on North America.
Report Post »I am sure Obama has it under control, maybe. After all he is the most smartest guy since the world began, according to the Times. I know his solution, they can use all their nukes on us, and then we can give them stimulus dollars so they could build some more. Gosh, I’m as smart as Obama!
charliego
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 11:51pm@SNOWLEOPARD
Report Post »Being facetious obviously. The bad boys can just about do what they want with the stuff-can’t they? Barter, sell, or self use. And, we just, ho hum, sit around with negotiations and ineffective blockades while they get more money off us to build and buy more stuff. A little Cuban missile crisis reminiscence and replay. All the while watching Chavez build his arsenal and other nefarious nations looming on the horizon. Let’s do a little more reduction of American security-shall we?
GuyPerrim (one post below) must have read ‘One second After’. Now that was an eye opening book!
M31Sailor
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 6:38pmWe should give them some more Via The B2
Report Post »alienguns
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 11:29pmI agree—we should show them how it works in real time
Report Post »PeterThePainter
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 6:36pmNothing to worry about….we have our Government right on top of things….10-9-8-7-6
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 7:04pmYep..a white house staffer is writing a strongly worded letter as we speak.
Report Post »alienguns
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 11:27pmya, you know Odumbo is right on top of things–he knows everything–and everybody likes him—–
Report Post »TruthTalker
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 6:30pmThe club is getting bigger everyday.
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 6:36pmI guess this administration will await the day of a city, ours, south korean, or japanese to become an glowing pile of wreckage before deciding to deal with them. The blood will be on Obamas hands.
http://www.artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 6:46pmI wonder if Bill Clinton had anything to do with the lack of intel on this thing?
Turning a blind eye in exchange for prisoners? Pure speculation, I admit. Just wargaming, here.
Report Post »Flagwaver
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 7:13pmI bet there are nice new GE stamps on all of the brand new technology.
Report Post »Mister President
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 8:59pmWhy can’t we just hit them and Iran from 70,000 feet with stealth bombers and have the pilots back home before they can even begin to guess what has happened to their nuclear weapons programs?
The pen is mightier than the sword, no doubt, but the leaders of Iran and North Korea do not know how to read.
Report Post »Neuhouser
Posted on November 21, 2010 at 11:21pmyou can’t play “nice nice” woth North Korea. Especially with the change of power going on right now. Kim Jong Un is going to have to make many shows of force to assert his control as his father is stepping down. If this goes unchecked we’re effed.
Report Post »Compete or Lose
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 9:17pm.
.
.
.
If there was ever a time that called for some Stealth bombers dropping a lot of high yeild fusion weapons to turn the mountain to smoking glass–this is it.
THese idiots deserve to get the BIG STICK
It lets other IDIOTS know that there are CONSEQUENCES for their ACTIONS
Good luck
Report Post »RGS