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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Nork Nuke Facilities 'a Disaster in the Making' |
| 2011-04-20 |
| North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is using nuclear weapons development to maintain his firm grip on power, but a compilation of North Korean state media reports the Unification Ministry has gathered since June 2000, the reclusive leader has never visited the main Yongbyon nuclear complex. Experts say this is unusual given that Kim has undertaken more than 100 of his so-called on-the-spot guidance tours this year alone, to anything from shoe factories to military units. One theory is that the site is simply too dangerous. Yongbyon "is such a 'sensitive' location that he may have made secret visits, but there is a good chance that he avoided visiting the site due to fears of radiation," an intelligence official said. Sensitive locations do not normally put Kim off. Some years ago he made two visits to a long-range missile base and a nuclear testing site in North Hamgyong Province. At present, the Yongbyon nuclear complex contains a 5MW graphite-moderated reactor, plutonium extraction facilities, a nuclear fuel processing plant, a half-built 50 MW reactor, two unreported storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel, one storage facility that has been reported, and a light-water reactor that may or may not be completed by 2012. The plutonium extraction facility is the main reason for the radioactive contamination. "Radioactive materials such as neptunium, americium and curium are released in the process of extracting plutonium by melting spent nuclear fuel rods with nitric acid," said Hwang Il-soon, a nuclear scientist at Seoul National University. "The problem is that these materials have half-lives of hundreds of thousands of years." That means the radioactive contamination possibly caused by the Yongbyon nuclear facility is a problem that will not go away. There are also facilities in Yongbyon that store the nitric acid and other liquid waste generated from melting spent nuclear fuel rods, but they were covered with dirt, while new buildings have been built over them to cover them up. Other landfills storing solid radioactive waste, including spent nuclear fuel rods, have been covered with soil and trees. Since North Korea expelled IAEA inspectors in 2002, nobody knows for sure what is going on in Yongbyon. One intelligence official said, "A bigger problem is the light-water reactor slated for completion in 2012. We don't think North Korea is capable of building it, but if the North compromises safety by hastily finishing it, we might witness a nuclear disaster." "North Korea has operated its nuclear facilities ignoring safety standards recommended by the IAEA," said a South Korean government official. "The level of radiation in Yongbyon is staggering." One source familiar with North Korean matters said, "I know that many researchers at Yongbyon suffered from hair loss, nausea and dizziness." There are also accounts that North Korean officials avoid escorting foreign visitors to Yongbyon. There are presently around 3,000 people working there, including around 200 scientists. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #6 And they have the ability to cover up nuke catastrophes; at least until other countries are radiated. Then they will blame the US. |
| Posted by: Unavigum Turkeyneck2012 2011-04-20 18:56 |
| #5 Looks like anything leaking from the nuke plant will go into the river and then into Korea Bay. I am sure that all the rice and fish in the area are perfectly safe to eat. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2011-04-20 13:13 |
| #4 can we hope the wind blows the right way? |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2011-04-20 13:05 |
| #3 So if you're a North Korean school boy who displays flashes of intelligence, the Party notices and sends you to the good schools. Next thing you know you're studying nuclear physics and they're giving you food that is actually edible. They don't tell you that they're grooming you for a job at the world's most dangerous nuclear weapons factory, they just send you there one day and tell you to get to work. You would have been better off starving on grass and tree bark in the countryside but it's too late. Kimmie wants you at Yongbyon and that is where you will remain until your hair falls out. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-04-20 11:43 |
| #2 A graphite moderated reactor, ya say? What could go rhong? /channeling Chernobyl |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2011-04-20 01:56 |
| #1 Many Perts believe ditto for MANY OF MAINLAND CHINA'S NUCPLANTS but Beijing is keeping any datums under tight, pain-of-prison-or-death control. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-04-20 00:40 |