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posted by janrinok on Wednesday June 27 2018, @06:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the actions-not-words dept.

North Korea has continued to upgrade its only known nuclear reactor used to fuel its weapons program, satellite imagery has shown, despite ongoing negotiations with the US and a pledge to denuclearise.

Infrastructure improvements at the Yongbyon nuclear plant are "continuing at a rapid pace", according to an analysis by monitoring group 38 North of commercial satellite images taken on 21 June.

The cooling system for the plutonium production reactor has been modified and at least two new non-industrial buildings have been built on the site, possibly for use by visiting officials. A new engineering office building has been completed and construction has continued on support facilities throughout the complex, according to a blog post written by Frank V Pabian, Joseph S Bermudez Jr and Jack Liu.

"Infrastructure improvements continue at Yongbyon," Jenny Town, managing editor of 38 North, wrote on Twitter. "Underscores reason why an actual deal is necessary, not just a statement of lofty goals."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/27/north-korea-nuclear-reactor-upgrades-summit-pledges


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @06:54PM (17 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @06:54PM (#699415)

    I can't tell from the description whether this could just be preparation for inspections and modifications so that it does not produce "weapons-grade" waste products.

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  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday June 27 2018, @06:58PM (13 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday June 27 2018, @06:58PM (#699420) Journal

    You can't tell whether improving the cooling system for their weapons grade reactor is for weapons or not?

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:07PM (8 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:07PM (#699423)

      I don't see where it says "improving the cooling system", just:

      The cooling system for the plutonium production reactor has been modified

      However, increasing the cooling capability sounds like something you would want to do if you are increasing the burnup:

      More precisely, weapons-grade plutonium is obtained from uranium irradiated to a low burnup.

      This represents a fundamental difference between these two types of reactor. In a nuclear power station, high burnup is desirable. Power stations such as the obsolete British Magnox and French UNGG reactors, which were designed to produce either electricity or weapons material, were operated at low power levels with frequent fuel changes using online refuelling to produce weapons-grade plutonium. Such operation is not possible with the light water reactors most commonly used to produce electric power. In these the reactor must be shut down and the pressure vessel disassembled to gain access to the irradiated fuel.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapons-grade_nuclear_material [wikipedia.org]

      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:39PM (5 children)

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:39PM (#699450) Journal

        Yeah, that's really plausible. They're adding adding building and modifications to make it worse.

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @08:01PM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @08:01PM (#699464)

          Building new admin buildings and messing with the cooling sounds exactly like what you would do if you wanted to transition your plant to more efficiently produce power at the expense of producing weapons materials and prove this to outsiders. Also this has nothing to do with Trump you delusional fool, it has to do with their test site collapsing and putting china at risk.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @09:32PM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @09:32PM (#699504)

            Really? Did you miss Trumps yuuuuge win getting Kimmy to play nice and de-arm? If Kimmy doesn't do it then Trump looks like a bragging fool (again). Maybe if he didn't brag about doing things he doesn't do then people wouldn't be so quick to jump on the trump blame train.

            At least he gets shit for what he does and not for being black or having a non-traditional US name. I sure wish the obumuh hate train had focused instead on the bullshit policies he pushed through marching us ever closer to true horror.

            • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @01:43AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @01:43AM (#699602)

              At least he gets shit for what he does and not for groveling at the feet of foreign potentates, kissing their feet, kissing their rings, and kissing their asses.

              FTFY

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @06:20AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @06:20AM (#699691)

              I would not be surprised if Kimmie was quite apprehensive about the US, given he was getting the same line we had tossed to Saddam Hussein.

              If I were in his shoes, I would be too!

              Here's hoping Trump did just what he said he did,,, go over, meet the guy, make friends, defuse all the fear ( which mutates into hate almost immediately ).

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @01:35AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @01:35AM (#699600)

          Yeah, that's really plausible. They're adding adding building and modifications to make it worse.

          Oh, come on. This is a plutonium production reactor, not a VW cheat diesel engine. Why would it need a building and modifications?

      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Aegis on Wednesday June 27 2018, @10:45PM (1 child)

        by Aegis (6714) on Wednesday June 27 2018, @10:45PM (#699538)

        I don't see where it says "improving the cooling system...
        However, increasing the cooling capability sounds like...

        You wouldn't consider an increase in capability to be an improvement to the system?

        More precisely, weapons-grade plutonium is obtained from uranium irradiated to a low burnup.

        Except, that's not the type of plant under discussion. Yongbyon is a re-processing plant. Described in the paragraph following yours.

        Plutonium recovered from LWR spent fuel, while not weapons grade, can be used to produce nuclear weapons at all levels of sophistication,[11]

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @11:01PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @11:01PM (#699544)

          Im aware of the paragraph that followed what I quoted. It says it would be more difficult to get bombs out of it, bt not impossible. Anyway, I can see this thread is degenerating into trump false flaggers making his opponents look like morons. It is exactly like before his election. How do I filter this?

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:14PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:14PM (#699432)

      Maybe I am misreading but it sounds like reactors that do not produce weapons grade waste products require additional cooling:

      Reprocessing plants are designed and licensed for maximum burnup and enrichment. Increased decay heat places an additional load on plant cooling systems.

      https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1490_web.pdf [iaea.org]

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:16PM (2 children)

      by Freeman (732) on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:16PM (#699437) Journal

      Maybe they've just realized they have a flaw in something and want to not replicate Chernobyl? At this point it's all speculation. Which is about as much as you can get regarding North Korea since they're so closed to outsiders. I would never put much stock into what the current North Korean government says. The proof is in the pudding as they say.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @09:07AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @09:07AM (#699728)

        Maybe they've just realized they have a flaw in something and want to not replicate Chernobyl?

        You do realize that Chernobyl happened because they wanted to quickly restart a recently shut down nuclear reactor? You know, before Xenon decayed, like it's done in every reactor ever (hence why you need to wait for a week or two before restarting a shut down reactor). I'll let you figure out *why* you need to wait.

        Anyway, I'd just leave this propaganda reality news here.... maybe question things a little more instead of believing your great dear leader.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il-22Q8mECc [youtube.com]
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf8Uu53x0d8 [youtube.com]
        https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/05/trump-media-feedback-loop-216248 [politico.com]

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @04:14PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @04:14PM (#699869)

          I'll just enjoy the small bit of schadenfreude as I watch morons cheer on the "enemies" they wanted to nuke just months before. Trump was right, he could murder someone in broad daylight and his supporters would go along with it. I won't say the guy is actually that smart, but he sure seems to know his to manipulate idiots like any good conman.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by frojack on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:40PM (2 children)

    by frojack (1554) on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:40PM (#699451) Journal

    I can't tell from the description whether this could just be preparation for inspections and modifications so that it does not produce "weapons-grade" waste products.

    And neither could you tell this with the aerial photos, as all the work would be done inside.

    So unless they have some inside information, we can't tell if they might be removing the breeder components, or installing better ones.

    Then there is this line:

    “Continued work at the Yongbyon facility should not be seen as having any relationship to North Korea’s pledge to denuclearise,” the experts warned.

    But the article and especially DeathMonkey's TFS goes ahead and does that anyway.
    And no link to the actual source? What's up with that?

    https://www.38north.org/2018/06/yongbyon062618/ [38north.org]

    Determining the operational status of the reactor is particularly difficult at this time. Although a small water discharge is visible from the cooling water outfall pipe going into the river, that discharge is less than has been observed previously when the reactor was fully operational. It may simply be that this is all the water needed at this time to carry away the heat from the residual radioactivity in the reactor, if the reactor is currently shut down. Additionally, unlike last February, no visible steam is being vented from the generator building that would confirm that the reactor is operating,

    The whole place seems devoid of construction operations. There were maybe 7 or 9 vehicles on the entire site painstakingly pointed out in the photos.

    39.797390, 125.754869

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:48PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:48PM (#699457)

      What a topsy turvy world, Trump was able to get frojack defending North Korea! Bit amusing after all the frothing at the mouth about nuking them out of existence.

      Mad dog policy indeed.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:50PM

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:50PM (#699458) Journal

      “Continued work at the Yongbyon facility should not be seen as having any relationship to North Korea’s pledge to denuclearise,” the experts warned. “The North’s nuclear cadre can be expected to proceed with business as usual until specific orders are issued from Pyongyang.”

      Business-as-usual is to continue their nuke program and build more bombs...