By VOR

September 12, 2013

US and South Korean analysts watching North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility suggest that the reactor is nearing operation or has just been restarted.

A report by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University says that the colour and volume of steam rising from the nuclear site indicate that it may have been restarted. The institute uses satellite imagery to monitor North Korea.

In April, Pyongyang vowed to restart facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, which was shut down in 2007 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal.

A US expert earlier claimed North Korea could resume all plutonium operations at the facility within “approximately six months.”

The five-megawatt reactor can produce spent fuel rods that can be made into plutonium. Western pundits believe North Korea used such rods for 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests, though it is not clear whether plutonium or uranium was used.

Analysts also say the reactor can produce 13 lbs of plutonium a year, which is enough to make one to two A-bombs.

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