Technology for Nuke Restart Will Take Time, Says Experts

With the recent threat of North Korea to restart its nuclear reactor, experts are convinced it will still take several years away from developing the necessary technology.

Duyeon Kim, a North Korea and nuclear arms specialist at the Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, estimated it would take North Korea at least a year to reverse the graphite-moderated five-megawatt reactor which was taken five years ago.

Kim said that the threat is not an immediate danger. She explained that the nuclear reactor can’t immediately start producing plutonium again because the reactor and its other key components were shut down and disabled in 2007.

According to her there were eleven key plutonium-producing facilities and parts that were disabled and it means that it would take at least a year to restart those steps.

She added that the reactor cooling tower was also destroyed and it would take time to rebuild it, too, although North Korea could pump water from the river next to Yongbyon to act as a cooling mechanism.

The facilities which include a uranium enrichment facility, is located at the Yongbon nuclear plant.

Meanwhile, the United States will not accept North Korea as a “nuclear state”.  Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the United States will do what is necessary to defend themselves and defend their allies, Korea and Japan.

He added that they are fully prepared and capable of doing so.

The North’s latest declaration comes after a stream of verbal attacks against South Korea and the United States in recent weeks, including the threat of the nuclear strike.

Pyongyang’s angry words appear to have been fueled by the recent joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea in the region, as well as tougher U.N. sanctions in response to North Korea’s third nuclear test in February.

The United States has made a show of its military strength amid annual training exercises with South Korea, flying B-2 stealth bombers capable of carrying conventional or nuclear weapons, Cold War-era B-52s and F-22 Raptor stealth fighters over South Korea.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is south Korean,
plead to ease tensions.

He said that the current crisis has already gone too far and things must start to calm down. He mentioned that nuclear threats are not a game and that aggressive rhetoric and military posturing only result in counteractions, and fuel fear and instability.

Ban said dialogue and negotiations are “the only way to resolve the current crisis.”

Pyongyang  severed a key military hot line with Seoul and declare void the 1953 armistice that stopped the Korean War due to the tensions in the Korean peninsula.

On the other hand on Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed that it is positioning an array of military assets near the Korean Peninsula, as the White House stressed that the “entire national security team” is focused on the escalating threats out of Pyongyang.

Pentagon spokesman George Little said that two destroyer warships, the USS Decatur and USS McCain, have arrived in the region as part of a missile-defense mission.

North Korea on Tuesday also blocked South Korean workers from entering the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Complex,  the only remaining bilateral initiative, which sits on the North Korea side of the border, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

The move comes after threats in recent days by Pyongyang to shut down the industrial complex.

Seoul, meanwhile, on Monday warned that any provocative moves from North Korea would trigger a strong response “without any political considerations.”

Source: cnn.com, foxnews.com, guardian.co.uk