New Delhi: New satellite images reveal North Korea is expanding a key facility capable of enriching uranium for nuclear weapons, renovations that likely indicate the country plans to significantly ramp-up production at this once-dormant site in the near future, according to experts who analysed the photos.
Images show construction is underway at a uranium enrichment plant located within the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Facility complex – changes that could allow North Korea to increase production of weapons-grade nuclear material by as much as 25 per cent, Jeffrey Lewis, a weapons expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told.
“The most recent expansion at Yongbyon probably reflects plans to increase production of nuclear materials for weapons production,” he added, noting the ongoing construction is consistent with previous efforts to add floorspace at the facility, allowing it to house more centrifuges and thus, enrich more uranium on a yearly basis.
“The new area is approximately 1,000 square metres, enough space to house 1,000 additional centrifuges. The addition of 1,000 new centrifuges would increase the plant’s capacity to produce highly enriched uranium by 25 percent,” Mr Lewis said.
If North Korea were to upgrade the type of centrifuges currently in use at this plant, it “could increase the capacity of the plant substantially,” he told.
US officials are aware of the recent activity at Yongbyon’s uranium enrichment plant and acknowledge those developments could signal plans to increase production of weapons-grade uranium, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
The National Security Council, Department of Defence, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and CIA all declined to comment.