A North Korean nuclear plant is seen before demolishing a cooling tower in Yongbyon, in this photo taken June 27, 2008 .North Korea has halted the nuclear reactor at its main atomic complex, probably to extract plutonium that could be used for weapons by reprocessing spent fuel rods, a South Korean news report said on Thursday, citing a government source.
Reprocessing of spent fuel rods removed from a nuclear reactor is a step taken before plutonium is extracted. The Yongbyon nuclear complex is the North’s main source of plutonium that it likely has used to build nuclear weapons. South Korea Defence Ministry spokesman Jeon Ha-gyu declined to comment on the details of the report but said US and South Korean intelligence authorities are closely monitoring related developments.
US nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited the Yongbyon complex in 2010, said despite the time North Korea has spent on the project, its capacity for producing plutonium and also the stock of fissile material itself are still limited. North Korea has conducted six underground nuclear tests and there have been concerns since last year that it may be about to conduct another test as part of efforts to develop miniaturised nuclear warheads.
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