renata
18th April 2003, 01:58 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030418/ap_on_re_as/koreas_nuclear_25
North Korea (news - web sites) said Friday it was reprocessing more than 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, which U.S. experts have said will give the communist state enough plutonium to make several atomic bombs.
The development raises the stakes in the North's upcoming talks with the United States over Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons programs. Those talks could begin in Beijing as soon as next week.
"As we have already declared, we are successfully reprocessing more than 8,000 spent fuel rods at the final phase," an unnamed spokesman of Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said, adding that "interim information" was sent to the United States and "other countries concerned" last month.
The claim could not be confirmed independently because North Korea expelled U.N. nuclear monitors last year.
.........
The North Korean spokesman emphasized the importance that the North sees in a military deterrent to stave off a possible U.S. attack in the wake of the war against Iraq (news - web sites).
"The Iraqi war teaches a lesson that in order to prevent a war and defend the security of a country and the sovereignty of a nation it is necessary to have a powerful physical deterrent force only," the unnamed spokesman told North Korea's KCNA news agency.
The United States denies it plans military action.
Washington believes North Korea already has one or two nuclear bombs and can extract enough plutonium from the fuel rods to make six to eight more bombs within months.
...........
Fuel rods are used to power nuclear reactors. Burning the uranium inside creates a small amount of plutonium, which can then be extracted and reprocessed for bombs.
The uranium-alloy rods — 1 inch in diameter, 21 inches long and 13.7 pounds each — could yield enough plutonium for several bombs if they were put through a nearby radiochemical reprocessing lab, experts say.
North Korea (news - web sites) said Friday it was reprocessing more than 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, which U.S. experts have said will give the communist state enough plutonium to make several atomic bombs.
The development raises the stakes in the North's upcoming talks with the United States over Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons programs. Those talks could begin in Beijing as soon as next week.
"As we have already declared, we are successfully reprocessing more than 8,000 spent fuel rods at the final phase," an unnamed spokesman of Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said, adding that "interim information" was sent to the United States and "other countries concerned" last month.
The claim could not be confirmed independently because North Korea expelled U.N. nuclear monitors last year.
.........
The North Korean spokesman emphasized the importance that the North sees in a military deterrent to stave off a possible U.S. attack in the wake of the war against Iraq (news - web sites).
"The Iraqi war teaches a lesson that in order to prevent a war and defend the security of a country and the sovereignty of a nation it is necessary to have a powerful physical deterrent force only," the unnamed spokesman told North Korea's KCNA news agency.
The United States denies it plans military action.
Washington believes North Korea already has one or two nuclear bombs and can extract enough plutonium from the fuel rods to make six to eight more bombs within months.
...........
Fuel rods are used to power nuclear reactors. Burning the uranium inside creates a small amount of plutonium, which can then be extracted and reprocessed for bombs.
The uranium-alloy rods — 1 inch in diameter, 21 inches long and 13.7 pounds each — could yield enough plutonium for several bombs if they were put through a nearby radiochemical reprocessing lab, experts say.