North Korea stopped reactor to obtain weapons-grade plutonium?

The portal, which monitors military and "nuclear" activity on the Korean Peninsula, publishes material on events related to the reactor in Yongbyon. This reactor in the DPRK is used to produce weapons-grade plutonium. Online 38 North stated that the North Korean authorities had probably ordered the shutdown of the reactor with a capacity of 5 MW.

At the same time, the material refers to the data obtained by “commercial” satellites from March 30.

It is also stated that work is underway near the coolant reservoir. It is noted that this may be due to the fact that water is evenly applied to the object.

From the material:

In addition, an unusual number of large vehicles were parked in the back of the reactor. Among these cars there are at least three large trucks, two of which appear to have tanks. Also, probably, a tarpaulin crane is nearby. The purpose of the arrival of these vehicles is unclear, but may be part of a new maintenance project related to the transfer of spent fuel rods from a nearby storage facility to move them from the installation to the radiochemical laboratory for the processing or delivery of fresh fuel.

Immediately added:

At present, the images indicate only the usual movement of vehicles and do not indicate any actions related to the preparation or the ongoing reprocessing campaign in the radiochemical laboratory. If such a campaign were conducted, one would see special cars.

Comments

[Vard]

Most likely a reboot of the active zone .. So there will be more warheads ...

[Shurik70]

An ordinary newspaper makes a qualified analysis of satellite images available to anyone via the Internet ... Impressive. And the analysis is interesting (this is me at the expense of the absence of special cars, there are no special cars, so they didn’t take anything out, it’s understandable, but to notice the absence itself is powerful). I remember reading in childhood about the German armored train, which was painted white and painted on top of the rails, our pilots could not find it. Koreans, of course, never think of disguising their trains, especially special cars
And the reactor will be launched, even if it was stopped. Without nuclear weapons, the DPRK will do the same as with Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, etc.

[Geisenberg]

Rather, unloading)) of the material obtained ... Otherwise, it makes sense to stop the reactor? Now they have enough plutonium)

[Herculesic]

Data taken from the ceiling, because they do not sparkle with information! All of these “maybe”, “probably”, “possible”, and so on, speaks only about one thing: South Koreans have very bad intelligence, since they arranged fortune-telling on coffee grounds on the Internet.

[Sergey985]

Is not a fact. Just lay out what is considered acceptable. It is strange if the message would begin: Agent Anchous, who occupies the DPRK Supreme Court .... said the following ...... Data confirmed by reconnaissance satellite.

[Nyrobsky]

Quote: Herkulesich

Data taken from the ceiling, because they do not sparkle with information! All of these “maybe”, “probably”, “possible”, and so on, speaks only about one thing: South Koreans have very bad intelligence, since they arranged fortune-telling on coffee grounds on the Internet.

South Korean intelligence is not at all aware of what is happening, because American intelligence plows tirelessly there. Keep an eye on objects from land and from space around the clock.

[Mountain shooter]

Or maybe what problems were there in the reactor that they fixed? I, too, have information ... Even if it is stopped, the plutonium accumulated by it will be enough for a long time ... Or they agreed on something with the Chinese ...

[KVIRTU]

Both in Russia and in the states, such have long been stopped. Where so much. In modern BPs, plutonium is only initiating, 0,5 CT approximately, the rest is deuterium.

[Vadim237]

Yes, not only Deuteride Lithium 6

[Shurik70]

North Korea officially confirms the presence of hydrogen (deuterium-tritium) bombs.
But deuterium-lithium can be much larger, their production, in contrast to the production of tritium, does not clog the atmosphere with characteristic isotopes.
And by the way, lithium-7 can also be used in deuterium-lithium, only then the bomb, unlike lithium-6, will turn out to be very dirty, except for the blast wave, there will be a strong radioactive infection. But they can be riveted quickly and a lot, because lithium does not have to be separated into isotopes, which is difficult and long

[bald]

No one canceled the scheduled work, especially at a serious facility.

[rotmistr60]

They also needed to add that the reactor was shut down due to Kim Jong-un's desire to bend a little before meeting with Trump and the picture would be in the framework of the Western dream. The Koreans carry out some planned work and wanted to spit on the satellites.

data received by “commercial” satellites

It turns out that "commercial" satellites monitor the situation on the territory of the DPRK. Oh well.

[Sergey-8848]

Correctly noticed in the article about the "commercial" satellites. What kind of merchants are these and what kind of business do they have, that day and night they have to monitor the Korean reactor ?!

[Sergey985]

Prepaid Buyers Excited.

[Observer2014]

North Korean authorities probablyordered to stop the operation of a 5 MW reactor.

Or they add fuel. And then they probably turn on the photon mega engine and move the Earth towards the Sun. Probably they can miss. And Earth flying by with a high probability will freeze in the depths of space

[Ace Tambourine]

... If it does not fly on the celestial axis ... Verily I say ... (C)

[Old26]

Quote: Geisenberg

An ordinary newspaper makes a qualified analysis of satellite images available to anyone via the Internet ... Impressive.

Well, you yourself can do such an analysis, knowing "what and how"

Quote: Shurik70

And the reactor will be launched, even if it was stopped. Without nuclear weapons, the DPRK will do the same as with Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, etc.

Launch. It was already twice or thrice. But even if they launch it, everyone understands that even with the nuclear weapons that the DPRK has, they will roll it out and bomb me the Stone Age, be it political will. So far, they are being held back by rather high losses in the region, but if the question arises - 10 million now or 30 million in 10 years, what do you think will be chosen ???

Quote: Geisenberg

Rather, unloading)) of the material obtained ... Otherwise, it makes sense to stop the reactor? Now they have enough plutonium)

Enough? For what? To make another 5-10 warheads? Then enough. Can you even imagine how much plutonium is produced per year by a 5 MW reactor ???

Quote: Herkulesich

Data taken from the ceiling, because they do not sparkle with information! All of these “maybe”, “probably”, “possible”, and so on, speaks only about one thing: South Koreans have very bad intelligence, since they arranged fortune-telling on coffee grounds on the Internet.

And you feel bad. That is how work on a particular problem begins. With the analysis of materials. And the voiced version is most likely. The last unloading was seems to be the year 2008-2010

Quote: Mountain Shooter

Or maybe what problems were there in the reactor that they fixed? I, too, have information ... Even if it is stopped, the plutonium accumulated by it will be enough for a long time ... Or they agreed on something with the Chinese ...

No, most likely in reality the time has come to reboot the core and the corresponding technique speaks about this. And at the same time professional and maintenance work. In previous stops, the period was about 100 days. Let's see this time. If work is completed earlier - just reboot. If within about 100 days - then reboot with preventive maintenance

Quote: rotmistr60

It turns out that "commercial" satellites monitor the situation on the territory of the DPRK. Oh well.

What surprises you so much, Gennady? Earth remote sensing satellites are commercial, one in full use by countries for intelligence activities. For profitable. And the parameters from such a remote sensing satellite can be removed more than from a conventional optoelectronic intelligence satellite ...