"North Korea Resumes Construction of 50MW Reactor at Yongbyon"

Commercial satellite company Maxar stated that based on photos taken on April 20, there are signs that construction work on a 50 MW-class reactor has resumed at the Yongbyon nuclear complex in North Korea.
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] It has been reported that North Korea has recently resumed construction of a 50 MW (megawatt) reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear facility in North Pyongan Province, which had been halted for over 20 years.

CNN reported on the 13th (local time) that satellite images have captured signs of North Korea resuming large-scale reactor construction at the Yongbyon nuclear complex.

According to the report, commercial satellite company Maxar's recent satellite images show that reactor construction activities have resumed at the Yongbyon nuclear facility complex, and the U.S. government is closely monitoring the developments.

Experts say it is difficult to predict the completion date of this reactor but estimate its scale to be around 50 MW. CNN noted that this reactor is about ten times larger than the existing Yongbyon reactor, which began operation in the late 1980s and whose construction was halted under the 1994 North Korea-U.S. Geneva Agreed Framework.

The Yongbyon nuclear complex already houses a 5 MW reactor and reprocessing facilities, and recent reports indicate signs of these facilities being operational. In this context, the resumption of construction of the large-scale reactor, which had been dormant for a long time, has now been revealed.

Jeffrey Lewis, a senior researcher at the Middlebury Institute, told CNN that once this reactor starts operating, it could increase plutonium production for nuclear weapons by up to ten times.

Senior researcher Lewis explained that although construction had been halted with several years remaining until completion, Maxar's satellite images clearly show signs of construction resuming. He noted that satellite images taken on the 20th of last month and the 7th of this month captured North Korea connecting the reactor’s secondary cooling loop to a pump station by the nearby river. The images also show some pipes and construction equipment intended for burying them underground.

Furthermore, he analyzed, "The signs of connecting the secondary cooling loop to the reactor, along with the demolition of a building believed to be used for spent nuclear fuel processing, are early indicators suggesting that North Korea plans to complete the reactor construction."

CNN also reported earlier this month, based on analyses by the U.S. military and intelligence agencies, that North Korea is preparing to resume its seventh nuclear test at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the near future.

However, opinions are divided on whether North Korea will actually proceed with a nuclear test. In particular, there are conflicting views that conducting a nuclear test amid the COVID-19 pandemic and public health crisis would be difficult to justify to residents, while others argue it may be necessary to highlight the regime’s legitimacy.