[Interview file] "Plutonium can be produced in all nuclear power plants"... Controversy over North Korean nuclear power plant promotion

●'Gyeongsuro White Paper' in the Poyois folder…

Promoting the construction of a light water reactor in North Korea?

Controversy is arising as to whether the government promoted the construction of nuclear power plants in North Korea as a document file titled'Promotion Plan for Nuclear Power Plant Construction in North Korea' appeared on the computer of an official of the Ministry of Industry.

The document file was found in the process of seizure and search by the prosecution in connection with the'Wolseong nuclear power plant economical manipulation case'.

This file was deleted from the computer of an official of the Ministry of Industry, and it was restored by the prosecution through digital forensics.

The Ministry of Industry explained, "It is simply a document reviewed from an idea level," but the controversy has not subsided.

Details have not been disclosed, but looking at the files, it is highly likely that the'light water reactor' was considered as a method of constructing nuclear power plants.

Among the files deleted by the Ministry of Industry, there was a folder called'Pohphjois', which means'north' in Finnish, because the folder also contained the file'Kyungsooro White Paper.PDF'.

In 1995, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) considered the construction of a light water reactor in North Korea.

The US has decided to build two light water reactors in North Korea.

There was a condition that North Korea gave up its nuclear weapons, but at the time, it was a public opinion that it was difficult to extract plutonium to be used for nuclear weapons from light water reactors.

The construction of the'light water reactor' was regarded as a simple electricity support project.

However, now that the technology is advanced, it is pointed out that enough plutonium can be extracted from light water reactors.

power After operating a nuclear power plant, plutonium can be extracted from the remaining nuclear fuel.

Of course, plutonium production is theoretically possible with the remaining nuclear fuel used in Korea through this method.

It is a nuclear fuel reprocessing technology called PUREX (Plutonium-Uranium Extraction), which dissolves spent nuclear fuel in nitric acid to make liquid, and then extracts only metallic plutonium using a chemical reduction reaction.

However, in Korea, the extraction and production of plutonium is completely prohibited in accordance with the Korea-US nuclear power agreement signed in 1973, so actual production is impossible.

Nuclear power plants currently in use are largely divided into heavy water reactors and light water reactors.

In particular, nuclear fuel used in heavy water reactors such as the Wolseong nuclear power plant can extract a large amount of plutonium.

On the other hand, all nuclear power plants in Korea, except the Wolseong nuclear power plant, use the light water reactor method, and it is very difficult to extract plutonium for nuclear weapons from the light water reactor.

Uranium in nuclear fuel continues to absorb neutrons over time.

Uranium used for nuclear fuel has 238 neutrons.

This is called uranium-238.

In the process of operating the reactor, uranium-238 absorbs neutrons. When one neutron is absorbed, 239 neutrons are converted into a material called plutonium-239.

This plutonium-239 is the core material of the nuclear bomb (atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb) we are talking about.

Fission is very strong, causing a chain reaction, and when 5~20kg gathers, it becomes a nuclear weapon.

But if one more neutron sticks to plutonium-239, it becomes plutonium-240.

Plutonium-240 is a material that cannot be used as a raw material for nuclear bombs.

Over time, plutonium-240 becomes more.

In the case of heavy water reactors, since nuclear fuel is replaced in one year, there is a lot of plutonium-239 in the remaining nuclear fuel, but in the case of light water reactors that replace nuclear fuel every 3 to 5 years, plutonium-240 is more in the remaining nuclear fuel.

Professor Jaegi Lee of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Hanyang University said, "Plutonium-240 is not a fissile material, but rather interferes with the chain reaction. The longer nuclear fuel is used, the higher the ratio of plutonium-240 to plutonium-239 is, and thus it cannot be used as a nuclear weapon fuel. "Since using nuclear fuel for more than 3 years, the ratio of non-fissionable plutonium continues to rise, making it difficult to obtain plutonium-239."

but recently, the technology has advanced enough to make nuclear weapons even if the concentration of plutonium-240 is relatively high, and the extraction technology has also been developed, so that plutonium-239 can be obtained even with light water reactors. Experts are seeing it.

In a phone call with SBS, Professor Gyun-Ryeol Suh of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Seoul National University said, “If you reduce the use period of nuclear reactor fuel to the level of 3 to 6 months, plutonium of good quality is produced. Especially nowadays, even if plutonium 240 is mixed, Nagasaki bomb class can be made easily. To make the Nagasaki bomb, you need about 4 kg of plutonium-239. Based on one light-water reactor, 4 kg of plutonium can be produced in about two years. If the nuclear fuel is taken out early while generating electricity, it can be converted to a plutonium production facility. It means," he said.

North Korea is currently analyzed to have a considerable level of nuclear fuel reprocessing technology, namely, plutonium production technology and uranium enrichment technology.

But there is no means to watch.

In particular, North Korea is also very uncooperative with the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA.

Korea is sharing data with the IAEA on the overall operation of nuclear power plants and the processing of spent nuclear fuel, and also undergoes inspection and inspection from the IAEA.

However, North Korea has recently refused to inspect the IAEA, so it is not known how North Korea will operate its nuclear reactor.

Nuclear power plants are facilities that can be turned into weapons if used without surveillance.

As mentioned earlier, the Ministry of Industry said that it was reviewed for a simple idea, but reviewing the method of supporting North Korea's power supply with nuclear power plants is contrary to the'denuclearization of the Korean peninsula'.

This is the part that needs to be revealed in the future, what is the background of this file, what content is contained in it, and why the idea-level content was deleted.

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'North Korea nuclear power plant promotion' deleted at night