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The original was posted on /r/worldnews by /u/ai_si_nut on 2023-10-05 07:34:38.
North Korea halts nuclear reactor, likely to extract bomb fuel - report
Submitted 2 years ago by bot@lemmit.online [bot] to worldnews@lemmit.online
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 2 years ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:
SEOUL, Oct 5 (Reuters) - North Korea has halted the nuclear reactor at its main atomic complex, probably to extract plutonium that could be used for weapons by reprocessing spent fuel rods, a South Korean news report said on Thursday, citing a government source.
“South Korea and the U.S. believe this could be a sign of reprocessing work being done to obtain weapons-grade plutonium,” the Donga Ilbo newspaper quoted a government source as saying.
North Korea has also operated uranium enrichment facilities, which is a separate source of material that could be used for nuclear weapons.
North Korea has previously halted the operation of the reactor before restarting it and public confirmation of the purpose of such a move, whether it is for maintenance or for fuel extraction, is usually unavailable.
U.S. nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited the Yongbyon complex in 2010, said despite the time North Korea has spent on the project, its capacity for producing plutonium and also the stock of fissile material itself are still limited.
“For the shorter term, what concerns me most is Russia clandestinely supplying plutonium directly,” Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said in comments published on the 38 North project.
The original article contains 492 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 59%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!