nuclear-news

North Korea’s unsafe nuclear reactor

Shortcuts to another nuclear disaster   SF Gate, Philip Yun, 9 Mar 12, “……Fukushima cautions us that nuclear technology is inherently dangerous. It also reminds us that accidents are always possible, despite the best of precautions. Right now there is a potential nuclear disaster in Asia that is under the radar: the construction of an unsafe light-water reactor in Yongbyon, North Korea.

The North Korean reactor is a similar design to the damaged Fukushima
generator that caught fire.  Its stated purpose is the same: the
production of electricity.  The North Korean reactor, however, is more
dangerous, both because it runs on enriched uranium that could
eventually be converted for use in the North’s controversial nuclear
weapons program and because — unlike the reactors used in Fukushima —
this one is being built with little attention to established
standards.

In a country of chronic shortages and a system that stifles “bad news”
while demanding results, cutting corners is inevitable.  The result
could be a dangerously sub-par reactor – one that might not withstand
the nuclear reaction it is intended to create.

Typically, this type of reactor takes six to eight years to put
together and certify.  But in North Korea, construction is speeding
along at a much faster pace, an indication that completion has
probably taken priority over caution – perhaps to meet a declared
deadline set some time ago to inaugurate the reactor in 2012 in
celebration of the year that North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung, would
have turned 100.  From publicly available satellite photos, anyone can
see the rapid progress at the facility’s site, from an empty dirt
clearing in September 2010, to the most recent photos showing a
structure that has the clear outlines of a generator hall, a reactor
containment structure, and an adjacent reactor dome that seems to be
near completion.

The little information we have from the ground confirms these
concerns….. http://blog.sfgate.com/pyun/2012/03/09/shortcuts-to-another-nuclear-disaster/

March 10, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, safety